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xMARCO    PAUL'S 


TRAVELS  AND  ADVENTURES 


PURSUIT  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 


MARCO  PAUL'S 


TRAVELS  AND  ADVENTURES 


PURSUIT  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 


ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL 


BY  THE  AUTHOR  OF 
ROLLO,  JONAS,  AND  LUCY  BOOKS. 


BOSTON; 

BENJAMIN  B.  MUSSEY  <fc  CO. 

1S4S. 


Entered,  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1843, 

BY    T.    H.    CARTER, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


STEREOTYPED    BY 

GEORGE    A.  CURTIS, 

BWQLAND  TYPE  AND  STEREOTYPE  FOUNDRY, 


MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL, 


CHAPTER  I. 
PLANNING. 


As  Forester  was  sitting  upon  a  settee,  by  the 
side  of  one  of"the  great  doors  leading  into  the 
ladies'  cabin,  on  board  the  North  America,  com- 
ing up  to  Albany,  thinking  of  future  plans,  he 
said  to  himself,  "  How  shall  I  begin  to  interest 
Marco  Paul  in  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  ?  " 

There  were  a  great  many  passengers  walking 
to  and  fro  upon  the  deck  of  the  steamboat.  Others 
were  seated  on  settees  and  chairs,  reading  news- 
papers, or  looking  at  the  scenery.  At  this  moment 
Marco  came  up  from  the  gentlemen's  cabin,  and 
walked  slowly  along  towards  Forester,  looking 
this  way  and  that,  as  if  he  did  not  know  what  to 
do  with  himself. 

:( Marco,"  said  Forester,  "  come  and  sit  down 

here,  by  me."     So  Marco  came  and  took  his  seat 

by  the  side  of  Forester,  on  the  settee. 

"  Marco,"  said  Forester,  "  I  have  been  consider- 
1# 


0  MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

ing  what  it  is  best  to  have  you  study  first,  and  I 
have  pretty  nearly  decided." 

"  Well,"  said  Marco,  "  what  is  it?" 

"  See  if  you  can  guess." 

"  Arithmetic  ?  "  said  Marco. 

"  No,"  replied  Forester. 
-  "  Grammar  ? "  said  Marco. 

"  No,"  replied  Forester,  "  nothing  like  that." 

"  What  is  it  then  ?  "  said  Marco.    "  I  do  n't  think 

1  can  guess." 

"  The  Erie  canal,"  said  Forester. 

"  The  Erie  canal !  "  repeated  Marco.  "  How 
am  I  going  to  study  the  Erie  canal  ? " 

"  There  are  two  'modes  of  acquiring  know- 
ledge," said  Forester ;  "  the  stud^of  books,  and 
the  study  of  things, — or  observation.  You  study 
books  when  you  read  in  books  an  account  of  the 
object,  or  a  narrative  of  the  events,  or  a  statement 
of  the  principles,  which  you  wish  to  learn.  When 
we  learn  by  observation,  we  go  out  and  see  for 
ourselves,  instead  of  taking  the  statements  or 
explanations  of  others." 

"  Which  is  the  best  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"  Both  combined  make  the  best  method  of 
study,"  said  Forester ;  "  first  to  learn  from  books 
all  that  we  can,  and  then  go  and  make  our  obser- 
vations. I  propose  that  you  should  study  the 
Erie  canal  in  that  way.  We  cannot  learn  from 
observation  alone,  because  we  want  some  guide. 
We  want  to  know  where  to  look,  and  what  to  look 
for.     The    Erie    canal,    for   instance,   is    several 


PLANNING.  7 

hundred  miles  long.  It  would  take  a  great  while 
to  explore  it  wholly  from  end  to  end.  We  want, 
therefore,  to  look  at  books  first,  so  as  to  learn  what 
the  points  of  interest  are,  and  then  we  can  go  out 
and  make  our  observations  to  advantage." 
x  "  But  it  would  be  better,  if  wa  had  time  enough, 
to  do  it  all  by  observation,"  said  Marco. 

"  No,"  said  Forester ;  "  there  are  some  things 
which  we  cannot  learn  by  observation.  We  can 
only  get  them  from  books." 

"  Such  as  what? "  said  Marco. 
, "  Why  take  such  a  point  as  this  ;  which  end  of 
the  Erie  canal  is  highest  ?  It  begins  at  Lake  Erie, 
and  extends  through  the  State  of  New  York  to 
Albany,  where  it  comes  into  the  Hudson  river. 
As  it  comes  along,  it  sorn2tim.es  rises  and  some- 
times falls,  and," — 

"  I  thought,"  interrupted  Marco,  "  that  the  water 
in  a  canal  was  always  level." 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester  ;  "  at  any  particular  place 
the  water  is  level,  or  nearly  level ;  but  then,  in 
making  a  canal,  after  going  along  a  little  way  on 
a  level,  if  the  engineer  comes  to  a  place  where  the 
land  descends,  and  the  country  takes  a  lower  level, 
he  stops  there  and.  builds  a  lock  ;  that  is,  a  place 
with  great  gates  to  shut  in  the  water.  Then  he 
begins  below,  and  makes  another  piece  of  the  canal 
on  the  lower  level ;  rrrl  they  have  a  very  curious 
way  of  letting  the  boats  down  from  one  level  to 
another,  and  also  of  rnising  them  up  from  the 
lower  level  to  the  higher,  when  they  are  going  the 


8       MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

other  way  ;  so,  as  you  go  along  the  canal  in  a  boat, 
you  have  to  stop  continually,  to  be  raised  up  or 
let  down  from  one  level  to  another.  Now  if  we 
were  to  go  through  the  whole  canal,  from  Lake 
Erie  to  the  Hudson  river,  and  examine  both  termi- 
nations, could  we  tell,  from  our  observations,  which 
end  was  the  highest  ?  " 

11  No,  I  suppose  not,"  said  Marco  ; — "  yes  we 
could,  too  ;  we  could  measure." 

"  Measure  ? "  repeated  Forester.     "  How  ?  " 

"  "Why  we  could  measure  all  the  ups  and  all  the 
downs,  and  so  see  whether  it  goes  up  or  down  the 
most." 

"  True,"  said  Forester,  "  we  could  do  that.  But 
that  would  take  a  great  deal  of  time  and  labor. 
At  any  rate,  we  can  learn  the  fact  a  great  deal 
quicker  from  books,  for  there  we  shall  find  a 
drawing,  with  all  the  locks  marked  upon  it,  and 
the  height  of  each  one, — so  that  we  can  tell  at  a 
glance  that  the  end  at  Buffalo,  on  Lake  Erie,  is 
the  highest,  and  we  can  see  how  much  higher  it 
is." 

"  How  much  higher  is  it  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  Five  hundred  and  sixty-eight  feet,"  said  For- 
ester. 

44  How  did  you  know  ? "  said  Marco. 

"  I  looked  on  my  map,"  said  Forester  ;  "  there 
is  a  profile  of  the  canal  on  my  map." 

"  What  is  a  profile  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  It  is  such  a  drawing  as  I  have  been  speaking 
of,"  said  Forester.     "  I  will  show  you." 


PLANNING.  y 

So  Forester  took  out  from  his  pocket  what 
looked  at  first  like  a  little  morocco  book ;  but  on 
opening  it.  it  was  found  to  contain  only  a  map, 
which  was  printed  on  thin  paper,  and  folded  up 
neatly  between  the  covers.  Such  maps  are  only 
prepared  for  travellers.  Forester  opened  it  and 
showed  Marco  the  profile,  which  was  drawn  in 
one  corner.  It  represented  the  whole  length  of 
the  canal,  with  all  the  descents  and  ascents. 
Forester  also  showed  Marco  the  course  of  the 
canal  on  the  map;  and  by  comparing  the  course  on 
the  map  with  the  profile,  they  saw  that  the  canal 
continually  descended  from  one  level  to  another, 
from  Buffalo  to  the  Seneca  river.  The  Seneca 
river  is  a  river  which  flows  from  Seneca  Lake, 
north,  towards  Lake  Ontario.  From  this  river 
they  saw  that  the  canal  ascended  again  until  it 
reached  Utica,  a  large  city,  half  way  between 
Seneca  river  and  the  Hudson.  From  Utica  the 
canal  descended  again,  by  a  great  many  locks,  as 
it  went  along  down  the  banks  of  the  Mohawk 
river  to  the  Hudson,  and  finally  it  reached  a  much 
lower  level  than  that  where  it  had  commenced  at 
Buffalo. 

"  Now,"  said  Forester,  "  you  see  that  we  learn, 
by  a  glance  at  this  profile,  all  that  we  want  to 
know  about  the  level  of  the  canal ;  but  it  would 
require  an  immense  labor  for  us  to  go  over  the 
whole  length  of  it,  from  one  end  to  the  other,  and 
make  the  measurements  and  calculations  our- 
selves." 


10  MARCO    PAUL    ON    THE    ERIE    CANAL. 

"  Then,"  replied  Marco,  "  if  we  can  learn  better 
from  books,  we  need  not  make  any  observations  at 
all :  we  may  learn  it  all  from  books." 

"  No,"  siid  Forester,  "  for  there  are  some  things 
which  we  cannot  learn  from  books  so  well  as  we 
can  by  observation." 

"  What  things  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  "Why,  one  part  of  the  business  of  the  canal  is 
to  carry  the  emigrants  out  to  the  Western  country. 
Now,  when  a  canal  boat,  full  of  emigrants,  is 
passing  along  the  canal,  and  night  comes,  and 
they  all  gather  into  the  cabin,  it  makes  undoubt- 
edly a  peculiar  scene,  which  it  would  be  very 
difficult  to  get  an  idea  of  from  description;  but 
we  should  get  a  very  vivid  idea  of  it  by  going 
there  and  observing  for  ourselves.  So  the  views 
which  are  presented  to  the  eye,  as  you  go  along, 
sitting  upon  the  deck  of  the  boat,  the  appearance 
of  the  villages,  and  all  the  little  scenes  and  inci- 
dents, which  occur  along  the  line,  which  are 
characteristic  of  canaling,  must  be  seen,  or  else  we 
cannot  get  a  very  clear  idea  of  them." 

"  Can't  they  be  described  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  It  would  be  very  difficult  to  describe  them," 
said  Forester.  "  Very  few  books  do  describe 
them ;  and,  after  all,  no  description  can  give  you 
so  accurate  an  idea  as  you  can  get  by  witnessing 
them.  So  you  see  that  tho  way  to  get  the  best 
and  most  thorough  knowledge  of  such  a  subject  is 
to  study  it  first  by  books,  and  then  by  observation. 
Now  how  should  you  like  to  study  the  Erie  canal 
in  this  way  with  me?" 


PLANNING  11 

"  Pretty  well,"  said  Marco ;  "  at  any  rate,  1 
should  like  to  go  and  see  the  emigrants." 

"  Going  to  see  the  canal  will  be  more  agreeable 
than  merely  studying  books  about  it,  I  have  no 
doubt,"  said  Forester  ;  "  but  then,  if  we  study  the 
subject  first  in  books,  we  shall  take  a  great  deal 
more  pleasure  in  going  to  see  it.  We  always  take 
more  interest  in  seeing  what  we  have  read  and 
heard  of,  than  in  anything  equally  curious,  which 
is  entirely  new.  For  instance,  now,  do  you 
recollect  my  telling  you,  when  we  were  in  New 
York,  about  the  child  that  I  saw,  at  the  little 
farm-house  in  the  woods,  who  helped  her  father 
carry  his  gun  along  the  path  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco. 

"  Well,  now  if  we  were  riding  along  the  road, 
you  would  take  rather  more  interest  in  seeing  that 
house,  if  I  should  point  it  out  to  you,  than  you 
would  feel  in  any  other  house  that  you  had  never 
heard  of." 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco,  "  I  should." 

"  And  so,"  continued  Forester,  "  if  we  want  to 
enjoy  visiting  the  canal,  we  must  learn  all  we 
can  about  it  beforehand,  and  that  will  give  a 
great  interest  to  our  observations." 

"  Well,"  said  Marco. 

"  Therefore,"  continued  Forester,  "  I  will  tell 
you  now  all  that  I  know  about  canals,  and  the  Erie 
canal  in  particular ;  and  then,  when  we  get  to 
Albany,  we  will  try  to  get  some  books,  and  learn 
more   still,  in  respect  to  the  subject.     We  will 


12  MARCO    PAUL    ON    THE    ERIE    CANAL. 

spend  a  day  or  two  in  Albany,  studying  the  books, 
and  thus  find  out  what  are  the  points  of  interest 
about  the  canal,  so  as  to  know  what  it  will  be 
most  interesting  to  see.  Then  we  will  plan  some 
excursion,  and  go  and  see  for  ourselves." 

"  Well,"  said  Marco,  "  I  should  like  that." 

Just  then  there  came  suddenly  into  view,  at  the 
side  of  the  steamboat,  as  she  was  gliding  swiftly 
along  up  the  river,  a  group  of  small  vessels,  side 
by  side,  with  a  steamboat  in  the  middle.  The 
vessels  were  fastened  to  the  steamboat,  and  the 
steamboat  was  drawing  them  along  up  the  river. 
Forester  asked  a  gentleman  who  was  near,  if  he 
knew  what  it  was. 

"  It  is  a  tow-boat,"  said  the  gentleman,  "  taking 
these  vessels  up  to  Albany."  So  the  gentleman 
explained  to  them  that  merchandise  for  the 
country  was  carried  up  from  New  York  to 
Albany,  partly  in  sloops  which  sailed  by  wind, 
and  partly  in  boats  or  vessels  drawn  along  by  a 
steamboat,  called  a  tow-boat.  A  great  many  of 
the  goods  carried  up  in  this  way  were  to  be 
landed  at  Albany,  and  thence  transported  to  the 
West  through  the  canal. 

Marco  and  Forester  had  not  time  to  look  at  the 
tow-boat  long,  for  the  North  America  glided  very 
swiftly  by  it,  and  in  a  moment  it  was  gone. 
Then  Marco  came  back  again  and  took  a  seat  by 
Forester,  for  he  had  at  first  left  his  seat  to  look  at 
the  tow-boat. 

"  Well,  Marco,"  said  Forester,  "  now  I  will  tell 


PLANNING.  13 

you  what  I  know  about  the  canal.  This  will  be 
a  beginning;  then  we  will  get  some  books  in 
Albany,  and  learn  all  we  can  from  them.  By 
this  means  we  shall  learn  enough  about  the  canal 
to  visit  it  to  the  best  advantage. 

"  The  first  thing  in  the  construction  of  a  canal 
is  to  have  the  banks  water-tight.  They  make  the 
embankments  of  earth,  but  then  they  have  to  pre- 
pare the  earth  in  some  peculiar  way,  and  ram  it 
hard,  so  that  the  water  cannot  get  through.  The 
next  thing  is  to  get  a  supply  of  water  to  run  in  alt 
the  time,  so  as  to  keep  the  canal  full." 

"  I  should  think,"  said  Marco,  "  that  if  they 
make  the  canal  tight,  and  fill  it  with  water  once, 
that  would  be  enough." 

"  No,"  replied  Forester,  "  they  cannot  make  it 
perfectly  tight ;  some  will  ooze  out  through  the 
ground,  and  some  will  escape  by  evaporation. 
Besides  that,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  water  used 
at  the  locks  when  a  boat  passes  up  and  down. 
So  that  it  is  necessary  to  keep  a  constant  supply 
pouring  into  the  canal  all  the  time,  at  different 
places.  Those  places,  where  the  water  comes 
into  the  canal,  are  called  feeders.  We  shall  want 
to  see  some  of  the  feeders  when  we  go  to  visit  the 
canal." 

*  •  "  Yes,""  said  Marco,  "I  should   like  to  see  a 
feeder  very  much." 

"  Another  thing  that  is  interesting  to  see  upon 
the  canal  is  an  aqueduct.     An  aqueduct  is  a  kind 
of  bridge  by  which  water  is  carried  over  a  stream. 
2 


14      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

In  fact,  an  aqueduct  is  any  artificial  channel  to 
carry  water.  If  a  small  quantity  of  water  is  to 
be  carried  across  a  stream,  it  can  be  conveyed  in 
pipes,  which  can  be  carried  along  the  bottom. 
But  a  canal  must  have  so  much  water  that  it 
cannot  be  conveyed  in  this  way.  Besides,  the 
water  in  a  canal  must  be  open,  so  that  boats  can 
sail  along.  Therefore,  aqueducts'  for  the  purpose 
of  a  canal  must  be  very  large  and  solid  structures. 
They  are  made  like  a  bridge,  only,  instead  of  a 
road  upon  the  top,  there  is  a  canal,  with  a  path- 
way for  horses  to  walk  upon,  so  as  to  draw  the 
boats." 

"  I  should  like  to  see  an  aqueduct,"  said  Marco. 

"  So  should  I,"  said  Forester. 

"  Did  you  never  see  one  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  No,"  said  Forester.  "  There  is  a  magnificent 
aqueduct  on  the  Erie  canal,  at  Rochester,  I  have 
heard ;  but  that  is  rather  too  far  off  for  us  to  go 
and  see." 

"  How  far  is  it  ?"  asked  Marco. 

Forester,  instead  of  answering  Marco's  ques- 
tion directly,  opened  the  map  again,  and  showed 
Marco  where  Rochester  was.  They  found  that  a 
considerable  river,  called  the  Genesee  river,  ran 
across  the  route  of  the  canal  at  this  place,  so  that 
it  was  evident  that  the  canal  must  pass  over  the 
river. 

"  Are  there  any  other  aqueducts  on  the  Erie 
canal  ? "  said  Marco. 

■  Yes,"  said  Forester,  "  I  presume  there  are 


PLANNING.  15 

several.  We  will  follow  the  course  of  the  canal 
on  the  map,  and  see  what  rivers  it  crosses.  I 
suppose  there  must  be  an  aqueduct  at  every 
river." 

They  found,  by  examining  the  map  carefully, 
that  the  canal  crosses  the  Seneca  river  in  one 
place,  and  the  Mohawk  river  in  two  places, 
besides  several  smaller  streams ;  and  Forester 
said  he  supposed  that  there  must  be  an  aqueduct 
at  every  one  of  these  places,  to  carry  the  canal 
over. 

"  There  certainly  must,"  said  Marco. 

"  No,"  said  Forester,  "  not  certainly." 

"  Why,"  said  Marco,  "  I  don't  see  how  the 
canal  can  get  over  in  any  other  way." 

"  Why,  if  the  canal  should  happen  to  be  on  a 
level  with  the  stream,  where  it  was  to  cross,  I 
don't  know  but  that  they  might  draw  the  boats 
over  in  the  water  of  the  stream  itself,  without  any 
canal  there ;  only  they  would  have  to  make  a 
bridge  for  the  horses  to  go  over  upon.  There 
cannot  be  an  aqueduct,  unless  the  canal  is  con- 
siderably higher  than  the  river  at  the  place  where 
it  is  to  pass  over.  When  the  canal  comes  to  a 
small  stream,  I  believe  they  turn  the  stream 
directly  into  the  canal  for  a  feeder.  We  shall 
probably,  if  we  sail  along  the  canal,  see  such 
streams  coming  in,  sometimes  on  one  side  and 
sometimes  on  the  other." 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco,  "  I  '11  watch  for  them." 

"  Besides    feeders  and  aqueducts,"    continued 


16  MARCO    PATJL    ON    THE    ERIE    CANAL. 

Forester,  "  we  shall  want  to  see  some  of  the  locks. 
There  are  some  double  locks  and  some  single 
locks,  I  have  been  told." 

"  What  are  double  locks  ?  "  said  Marco. 

"  Double  locks,"  replied  Forester,  "  are  those 
which  are  made  in  pairs,  one  by  the  side  of  the 
other,  so  that  some  boats  can  be  going  up  in  one, 
while  others  are  coming  down  in  the  other,  at  the 
same  time." 

"  Why  couldn't  they  wait?"  said  Marco. 

"  Why,  there  are  so  many  boats,"  said  For- 
ester, "  as  I  have  been  told,  that  they  accumulate 
before  the  locks,  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to 
pass  through.  It  takes  some  time  for  a  boat  to 
get  through  a  lock." 

"  Why  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"  You  would  see,"  replied  Forester,  "  if  I  could 
explain  to  you  the  mode ;  but  I  had  better  wait 
until  we  can  see  the  locks,  and  the  boats  passing 
through.  Then  you  will  see  at  once  why  it  takes 
so  much  time. 

"  There  is  one  place  in  the  canal  where  there 
are  a  great  many  locks.  It  is  a  place  called 
Lockport." 

"  We  '11  go  there  and  see  them,"  said  Marco. 

"  It  is  rather  too  far  off,"  said  Forester. 

So  Forester  found  Lockport  on  the  map,  and 
showed  it  to  Marco.  It  was  beyond  Rochester, 
in  the  western  part  of  the  canal. 

"  Besides,"  said  Forester,  "  it  is  rather  tedious 
going  through  a   great   many  locks.     After  we 


PLANNING.  17 

have  seen  a  boat  go  through  two  or  three  times, 
we  understand  the  process,  and  after  that,  it  is 
only  a  tedious  repetition  of  the  same  thing.  1 
understand  that  travellers  avoid  those  parts  of  the 
canal  where  there  are  a  great  many  locks." 

"  How  do  they  get  along,  then  ?"  said  Marco. 

"  They  travel  in  railroads  or  stages,  if  there  are 
any.  For  instance,  the  first  part  of  the  canal, 
from  Albany  to  Schenectady,  is  full  of  locks. 
The  canal  there  rises  very  fast,  getting  up  into 
the  valley  of  the  Mohawk.  We  will  look  on  the 
map  and  see." 

So  Forester  showed  Marco  the  map  again,  and 
pointed  to  the  profile  of  the  eastern  end,  where 
there  were  a  great  many  locks  represented. 

"  I  have  heard  it  said,"  continued  Forester, 
"  that  it  is  very  tedious  to  go  by  the  canal  from 
Albany  to  Schenectady,  and  that  travellers  gen- 
erally go  across  by  the  railroad  route,  and  so  take 
the  canal  at  Schenectady,  or  else  they  go  on  to 
Utica  on  the  railroad.  For  here  at  Utica,"  con- 
tinued Forester,  pointing  to  the  map,  "  you  see  a 
long  level  commences  on  the  canal;  and  they 
travel  fast  on  that  level,  for  there  are  no  locks  to 
delay  them." 

"  I  should  rather  go  where  there  are  locks," 
said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester,  •'  I  presume  we  should 
be  very  much  interested  at  first  in  seeing  the 
locks ;  but  probably  we  should  soon  get  tired  of 
them." 

2* 


18  MARCO    PAUL    ON   THE    ERIE    CANAL. 

"  What  else  is  there,"  asked  Marco,  "  to  see  on 
the  canal  ?" 

"  I  do  not  recollect  anything  more  now,"  said 
Forester  ;  "  only  there  must  be  some  contrivance 
for  getting  rid  of  the  waste  water." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  waste  water  ?  "  asked 
Marco. 

"  Why,  the  superfluous  water,"  said  Forester. 

"  I  don't  understand  superfluous  any  better 
than  waste,"  said  Marco. 

Forester  s.niled,  and  said  it  was  not  a  very  good 
explanation.  He  said,  however,  that  it  was  now 
time  for  them  to  go  to  their  berths,  and  that  he 
would  not  talk  any  more  on  this  subject  until 
morning. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    PACKET. 

Forester  and  Marco  Paul  remained  a  day  or 
two  at  Albany,  making  their  investigations  in 
respect  to  the  canal ;  and  they  finally  concluded 
that  their  first  excursion  in  visiting  it,  should  be 
to  go  to  Schenectady,  and  there  take  a  packet-boat 
and  sail  to  Little  Falls,  a  village  about  fifty  miles 
beyond  Schenectady. 

The  reason  why  they  went  to  Schenectady, 
instead  of  beginning  their  voyage  upon  the  canal 
at  Albany,  will  be  made  apparent  by  looking  at  a 
map  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  a  profile  of 
the  canal.  It  will  be  seen  that  from  Albany  to 
Schenectady  the  canal  ascends  rapidly,  by  a  great 
many  locks,  up  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk ;  and 
it  takes  also  a  circuitous  route.  Now  the  heavy 
goods  which  are  transported  along  the  canal  must 
necessarily  be  taken  round  that  way.  The  delay 
is  not  of  much  consequence  to  the  merchandise ; 
but  passengers,  who  wish  to  get  to  the  end  of 
their  journey  as  soon  as  possible,  generally  go 
across  from  Albany  to  Schenectady  by  a  railroad, 
and  then  take  the  canal  there.  The  consequence 
is,  that  there  are  no  passenger-boats  going  from 


20      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

Albany  to  Schenectady,  but  only  boats  for  carrying 
merchandise.  The  boats  for  passengers  are  made 
very  different  from  the  boats  for  merchandise,  and 
they  are  called  by  different  names.  The  passen- 
ger-boats are  called  packets,  and  the  others  are 
called  line  boats. 

Now,  though  a  great  many  emigrants  travel  in 
line  boats,  Forester  knew  very  well  that  they 
would  not  be  at  all  comfortable  to  those  who  had 
been  accustomed  to  the  conveniences  and  refine- 
ments of  life ;  so  he  concluded  to  proceed  directly 
to  Schenectady  by  the  railroad,  and  take  the 
packet-boat  there. 

And  the  reason  why  they  concluded  to  stop  at 
Little  Falls,  was,  because  they  found,  by  the 
description  of  the  canal  in  their  books,  that  there 
was  a  remarkable  feeder  at  Little  Falls, — a  feeder 
in  which  the  water  was  brought  into  the  canal  by 
an  aqueduct  built  across  the  Mohawk  river.  This 
aqueduct  may  be  seen  represented  on  the  large 
maps  of  New  York.  The  books  said  also  that 
the  scenery  at  Little  Falls  was  very  romantic  and 
grand,  and  that  there  were  several  locks  there  too. 
So  that  by  visiting  Little  Falls,  they  saw  that 
they  should  have  an  opportunity  to  see  locks,  and 
a  feeder,  and  an  aqueduct,  and  romantic  scenery 
besides. 

There  was  another  thing  which  they  hoped  to 
accomplish,  too,  on  this  excursion.  They  found, 
on  inquiring  at  Albany,  that  a  packet-boat  left 
Schenectady  every  night,  and  another  every  mom- 


THE    PACKET.  21 

trig.  Now  they  wanted  very  much  to  spend  a 
night  on  board  a  boat  on  the  canal;  for  they 
wished  not  merely  to  see  the  canal  as  a  mechani- 
cal structure,  but  also  to  witness  some  of  the 
various  scenes  of  human  life  which  were  presented 
in  connexion  with  it.  One  of  these  scenes  was  a 
night  in  a  packet-boat ;  and  they  calculated  that  if 
they  took  a  night  boat  at  Schenectady,  they  should 
accomplish  that  object;  and  then  afterwards,  in 
the  morning,  before  they  reached  Little  Falls,  they 
should  have  time  to  sail  along  by  daylight  and 
see  the  country  and  villages,  and  observe  th£ 
incidents  which  occur  along  the  banks  of  a  canal. 

"  We  will  take  very  little  baggage,"  said  For- 
ester, u  so  as  to  be  independent." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ?  "  said  Marco. 

"  Why,  I  will  put  all  we  shall  want  in  my  little 
carpet-bag,  and  then  we  can  go  where  we  please, 
with  our  bag  in  our  hands.  A  trunk  is  a  great 
incumbrance  on  an  excursion  in  search  of  the 
picturesque."  \ 

So  Forester  put  some  newspapers  and  a  map 
into  his  carpet-bag,  and  then  began  to  roll  up 
some  articles  of  dress  into  a  small  roll,  which  he 
was  going  to  put  into  the  carpet-bag  too.  He 
held  this  roll  in  his  hand  a  moment,  hesitating, 
before  he  put  it  into  the  carpet-bag.  "  It  will  get 
sadly  tumbled,"  said  he,  "  knocking  about  in  the 
cars  and  in  the  boats  ;  I  wish  I  had  some  way  of 
protecting  it." 

"  A  trunk  would  be  the  best  for  it,"  said  Marco. 


22      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

Forester  did  not  answer.  He  seemed  to  be 
musing. 

"  Never  mind  if  it  does  get  tumbled,"  said 
Marco. 

"  If  I  could  find  a  tinman,"  said  Forester,  "  I 
could  get  him  to  make  a  case  for  me  in  five 
minutes.  Come  with  me,  Marco,"  he  continued, 
"  and  I  will  show  you  what  I  will  do." 

So  Forester  went  down  to  the  office  of  the 
hotel,  and  asked  the  clerk  if  he  could  direct  him 
to  a  tinman's.  The  clerk  went  to  the  door,  and 
told  him  to  go  in  a  certain  direction,  and  'into  a 
certain  street,  and  he  would  find  a  hard- ware 
store ;  and  he  said  there  was  a  tinman's  in  the 
rear  of  the  store. 

Forester  and  Marco  walked  along  to  the  store. 
The  store-keeper  directed  them  out  through  a 
back  door  which  led  down  some  steps  into  a  little 
yard,  where  the  tinman's  shop  was  situated. 

When  they  entered,  they  found  the  tinman  at 
his  bench,  hammering  some  tin  with  a  small 
mallet.  A  little  on  one  side  of  the  place  where 
he  was  sitting,  was  an  enormous  pair  of  shears, 
fixed  in  an  upright  position  on  the  work-bench,  all 
ready  to  cut.  The  jaws  were  short,  but  very 
heavy.  They  were  what  the  tinman  used  in 
cutting  his  tin. 

Forester  told  him  that  he  wanted  him  to  do  a 
little  job. 

<v  It  must  be  a  very  little  one,  indeed,"  said  the 
tinman,  "  for  I  am  very  busy.  The  other  man 
that  works  with  me  is  sick." 


THE    PACKET.  23 

"  Y^ell,"  said  Forester,  "  I  will  make  it  a  very 
little  one.  I  want  you  to  cut  me  out  two  piece* 
of  tin,  about  ten  inches  long  and  three  wide,  and 
then  bend  them  up  into  half  cylinders,  so  that 
when  I  put  them  together  they  will  make  a  hol- 
low tube.  Then  I  should  have  liked  to  have  some 
pieces  soldered  into  the  ends,  but  that  is  of  no 
great  consequence,  if  you  cannot  do  it  conve- 
niently." 

"  I  will  cut  the  pieces  out  for  you,"  said  the 
tinman,  "  but  I  have  not  time  now  to  solder  in  the 
ends." 

So  the  man  cut  out  the  tins,  and  then,  in  order 
to  bend  them  into  a  circular  shape,  he  took  a  long, 
wooden  roller,  and  rested  one  end  on  the  bench 
and  the  other  end  upon  the  stool  which  he  was 
sitting  upon.  Then  he  bent  the  tins  over  upon 
this  roller,  and  hammered  them  with  his  mallet, 
so  as  to  make  them  fit  the  roller  in  every  part. 

Forester  found  he  was  taking  more  pains  than 
was  requisite,  since,  it  was  not  necessary  for  his 
purpose  that  the  tins  should  be  very  true  in  their 
form — and  besides,  he  knew  that  the  man  was  in 
haste ;  so  he  said,  "  that  will  do,  sir ;  it  is  not 
necessary  to  be  very  particular  about  it." 

"  Why,  there  is  a  maxim,"  said  the  tinman, 
"  that  what  is  worth  doing  at  all,  is  worth  doing 
well." 

"  That  is  a  very  good  maxim,  I  have  no  doubt," 
said  Forester ;  "  but  the  farmers  in  Vermont  have 


24  MARCO    PAUL    ON    THE    ERIE    CANAL. 

another  one,  that  it  is  not  worth  while  to  plane  the 
under  side  of  a  barn  floor." 

The  tinman  laughed. 

"  I  suppose  the  true  philosophy  is,"  said  For- 
ester, "  to  go  in  the  right  medium  between  these 
two  maxims." 

By  this  time  the  tins  were  ready.  Forester 
paid  for  them,  and  he  and  Marco  returned  to  the 
hotel ;  and  Marco,  following  Forester's  guidance, 
found  himself,  not  long  after  this,  seated  in  a  car, 
which  was  trundling  him  out  of  Albany. 

They  came  very  soon  to  a  long  ascent,  which 
led  up  to  higher  land  than  that  on  which  Albany 
was  situated.  For  the  land  which  lies  in  a  direct 
line  between  Albany  and  Schenectady  is  elevated, 
though  it  is  nearly  level  when  you  once  get  up, 
away  from  the  river.  The  land  is  sandy  too  ;  so 
that  it  would  have  been  easy  to  have  made  the 
excavation  for  a  canal  in  a  straight  line,  but  it 
would  have  been  difficult  to  have  got  a  supply 
of  water  to  keep  it  full.  Besides,  it  would  have 
been  necessary  to  have  had  a  great  many  locks 
in  order  to  ascend  from  Albany  to  the  table  land 
above,  and  then  as  many  more  to  descend  again 
to  the  Mohawk,  at  Schenectady.  On  account  of 
these  difficulties  they  did  not  attempt  to  carry  the 
canal  across,  but  took  it  round,  through  the  valley 
of  the  Mohawk,  from  Schenectady,  thus  bringing 
it  down  to  Albany  from  the  north.  All  this  will 
be  made  very  clear  by  looking  upon  the  map. 

The  railroad,  however,  they  made  straight,  and 


THE    PACKET.  25 

the  consequence  was  that  it  was  necessary  to  have 
the  cars  drawn  up  a  long  ascent  near  Albany,  in 
order  to  get  upon  the  high,  level  land  above. 
Then  at  Schenectady  there  is  another  long 
descent,  by  wh^ri  the  cars  are  let  down  into  the 
vallev  of  the  Mohawk.  Beyond  Schenectady  the 
railroad  follows  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk  along 
ro  Utica,  with  the  canal.  So  that  for  ninety  miles 
there  is  a  canal,  a  railroad,  a  river,  and  a  common 
highwa}^,  running  side  by  side,  in  the  same 
narrow  valley.  It  was  up  this  valley  that  For- 
ester and  Marco  were  going  to  travel  in  one  of 
the  packet-boats  of  the  canal,  as  soon  as  they 
reached  Schenectady. 

The  cars  were  drawn  up  the  long,  inclined 
plane,  which  seemed  to  Marco  almost  half  a  mile 
long,  by  an  engine  which  was  stationed  at  the  top. 
There  was  a  long  cable,  which  reached  from 
the  top  to  the  bottom  of  the  hill.  To  keep  the 
cable  from  dragging  on  the  ground,  they  had  a 
line  of  little  wheels  in  the  middle,  between  the 
rails.  The  cable  passed  along  over  the  tops  of 
the  wheels.  There  was  a  groove  made  in  the 
circumference  of  the  wheels,  to  keep  the  cable 
from  slipping  off  upon  one  side.  Such  wheels 
are  called  pulleys.  When  the  cars  reached  the 
top  of  the  inclined  plane,  there  was  a  locomotive 
engine, — that  is,  an  engine  which  moved  along 
the  road, — ready  to  be  attached  to  it;  and  the 
locomotive  soon  carried  the  train  across  the 
elevated  plane,  and  brought  it  to  the  brink  of  the 
3 


26  MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

hiH,  which  descended  into  the  valley  of  the  Mo- 
hawk, at  Schenectady.  Here  there  was  another 
inclined  plane,  and  the  train  was  let  down  slowly, 
by  a  stationary  engine  and  a  long  cable,  just  as  it 
had  been  drawn  up  at  Albany.  ™he  locomotive 
was  left  at  the  top  of  the  hill.  So  they  fastened 
horses  to  each  one  of  the  cars  of  the  train,  and 
drew  them  separately  into  Schenectady.  Inclined 
planes  are  a  source  of  great  inconvenience  upon 
a  railroad.  They  make  a  great  many  changes 
and  delays  necessary.  Still,  there  are  some  places 
where  they  cannot  well  be  avoided. 

As  Forester  and  Marco  were  sitting  upon  their 
seats  in  the  car,  just  before  they  reached  the 
inclined  plane,  the  conductor  came  climbing  along 
the  side  and  looking  in  at  the  window  to  take 
their  tickets.  These  cars  were  not  made  as  cars 
are  generally  made  now,  with  a  door  at  each  end, 
and  an  aisle  up  and  down  through  the  middle ; 
but  they  were  divided  by  partitions  into  three 
3>arts,  and  there  was  a  door  in  each  side.  The 
conductor,  however,  did  not  come  in  at  the  door, 
He  only  looked  in  at  the  window,  and  when  he 
had  got  the  tickets,  he  climbed  along  to  the  next 
car. 

"  I  should  think  he  would  fall  off,"  said  Marco. 

"  He  takes  care,  I  suppose,"  said  Forester ; 
"  but  I  wish  I  had  asked  him  something  about 
the  packet-boats  at  Schenectady." 

"  Why,  we  can  find  out  well  enough  when  we 
get  there,"  said  Marco. 


THE    PACKET.  27 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester,  "  but  I  expect  there  will 
be  a  great  competition  for  passages.  The  runners 
will  be  after  us,  telling  us  all  sorts  of  stories, 
and  I  should  like  to  hear  something  about  it 
beforehand." 

"  The  runners  ?"  repeated  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester ;  "  the  railroad  people 
want  travellers  to  go  on  the  railroad,  and  the 
owners  of  the  boats  want  them  to  go  on  the 
canal.  So  they  each  send  out  men  to  find  the 
travellers  as  soon  as  they  come  into  town,  and  try 
to  persuade  them  to  go  by  their  conveyance. 
These  men  are  called  runners." 

"  Do  you  suppose  they  will  be  after  us  ? "  said 
Marco. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Forester,  "  very  probably  they 
will.  The  boats  and  cars  both  go  at  the  same 
time,  I  believe,  and  both  want  to  get  all  the 
passengers." 

"  It  will  do  no  good  for  the  railroad  men  to 
persuade  us,"  said  Marco ;  "  for  we  shall  go  in  the 
packet  at  any  rate." 

Forester  was  right  in  his  expectation  of  being 
accosted  by  the  runners  on  his  arrival  at  Sche- 
nectady ;  for  as  the  car  which  they  were  seated 
in,  was  running  into  the  depot,  just  before  the 
horse  had  stopped,  a  man  jumped  upon  the  side, 
and  looking  in  at  the  window,  said,  in  an  eagei 
voice,  to  Forester, 

"  Going  west,  sir  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester. 


28     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

"  "Will  you  take  the  packet,  sir  ? — carry  you  to 
Utica  for  twelve  shillings." 

At  this  instant  another  man  applied  at  the 
window,  just  as  Forester  was  taking  up  his 
carpet-hag  and  umhrella. 

"Take  the  cars  for  Utica,  sir?"  said  he. 
"  Run  through  in  six  hours." 

"  You  can  have  a  good  night's  rest  aboard  the 
packet,"  said  the  packet  runner. 

"  We  will  carry  you  for  twelve  shillings,  sir," 
said  the  railroad  runner,  in  a  low  tone,  as  For- 
ester stepped  out. 

"  Thank  you,"  said  Forester,  "  hut  I  have  some 
business  along  on  the  canal,  and  I  believe  I  must 
take  the  packet." 

"  "Well,  sir,  walk  right  along,"  said  the  packet 
man.     "  Have  you  any  baggage  ?  " 

•  Only  this,"  said  Forester. 

The  man  took  Forester's  bag  and  began  to 
push  his  way  through  the  crowd  of  persons  that 
were  coming  and  going  in  the  depot,  and  Forester 
and  Marco  followed  him  without  any  more  words. 
In  fact,  the  noise  and  confusion  of  the  bystanders, 
and  the  loud  hissing  of  an  engine,  which  was 
standing  there,  prevented  conversation. 

Their  guide  passed  out  of  the  depot,  and  then 
turned  into  a  busy  street,  built  up  closely  on  each 
side  with  stores,  shops  and  taverns.  A  short 
distance  before  them  they  saw  a  high  bridge.  It 
was  where  the  canal  passed  under  the  street. 
There  was  a  flight  of  steps,  at  each  side  of  the 
bridge,  leading  down  to  the  banks  of  the  canal. 


THE    PACKET.  29 

Forester  and  Marco  followed  the  runner  down 
one  of  those  nights  of  stairs,  and  there  they  found 
a  packet-boat  ready  to  receive  its  passengers. 
The  canal  was  very  broad  at  this  place.  A  canal 
is  usually  made  broad  where  it  passes  through  a 
town.  Along  the  sides  of  it  were  walls  of  stone, 
and  these  walls  were  continued  up,  under  the 
bridge,  high  enough  to  form  abutments  for  the 
bridge  to  rest  upon.  The  packet-boat  was  fastened 
by  a  rope  to  an  iron  hook  in  the  lower  part  of 
the  abutment  of  the  bridge. 

The  boat  was  long  and  narrow,  with  a  row  of 
windows  on  each  side.  There  were  Venetian 
blinds,  painted  red,  before  these  windows,  and  the 
boat  itself  was  painted  white.  This  gave  it  a  very 
gay  appearance.  Marco  said  that  it  was  a  much 
handsomer  boat  than  he  had  expected  to  find. 
The  top  of  the  boat  was  nearly  flat,  being  only 
curved  a  little  from  the  centre  towards  each  side, 
so  that  the  rain  might  run  off.  There  was  a  very 
small  iron  railing,  not  more  than  six  inches  high, 
along  the  edges.  This  deck  was  four  or  five  feet 
above  the  water.  At  the  bows,  and  also  at  the 
stern  of  the  boat,  there  was  a  lower  deck,  with 
steps  to  go  down  to  it ;  and  from  the  lower  deck 
in  the  stern,  there  were  other  steps  leading  into 
the  cabin.  There  was  a  row  of  trunks  and 
carpet-bags  commenced  on  the  deck,  beginning 
near  the  bows ;  and  men  were  carrying  on  more 
trunks,  which  they  placed  regularly  in  continua- 
tion of  this  row.  The  runner  stepped  from  the 
3* 


30 


MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 


stone  wall  by  the  side  of  the  canal,  upon  the  top 
of  the  boat,  and  Forester  and  Marco  followed 
him.  The  man  put  Forester's  carpet-bag  down 
with  the  rest  of  the  baggage,  and  then  he  took  the 
umbrella  from  Forester's  hand,  saying  he  would 
put  that  in  the  cabin. 


CHAPTER  III. 
GETTING   ON   BOARD. 

Forester  and  Marco  followed  the  runner  down 
into  the  cabin.  They  found  it  was  a  long  and 
narrow  room,  which  occupied  almost  the  whole  of 
the  interior  of  the  boat.  It  looked  like  a  pleasant 
little  parlor,  only  its  shape  was  very  long  and 
narrow.  There  were  seats  on  the  sides,  under 
the  windows,  covered  with  red  cushions.  They 
extended  the  whole  length  of  the  cabin.  There 
were  one  or  two  tables  in  the  middle,  with  some 
books  and  maps  upon  them.  The  cabin  was 
divided  into  two  parts  by  a  projection  from  each  of 
the  two  sides,  which  projections,  however,  were 
so  narrow  that  they  left  a  very  wide  opening 
between  them,  almost  as  wide  as  the  whole 
breadth  of  the  cabin.  There  was  a  large  crimson 
curtain  hung  over  this  opening,  so  that  when  the 
curtain  was  let  down  it  would  divide  the  cabin 
into  two  distinct  parts.  When  Forester  and 
Marco  came  in,  however,  the  curtain  was  up ;  the 
two  halves  being  drawn  out  to  the  two  sides,  and 
supported  there  by  a  large  brass  curtain  knob. 
Over  this  curtain  there  were  painted  in  gilt  letters 
the  words,  Ladies'  Saloon. 


32     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

Marco  understood  from  this  arrangement  that 
that  part  of  the  cabin  which  was  beyond  the 
curtain  was  intended  particularly  for  the  ladies, 
and  that  it  could  at  any  time  be  separated  from 
the  other  part  by  dropping  the  curtain.  In  the 
middle  of  the  ladies'  cabin  was  a  table,  with  books 
and  a  boquet  of  flowers  upon  it.  There  were 
several  ladies  sitting  upon  the  cushioned  seats  at 
the  sides  of  the  saloon. 

On  the  table  in  the  gentlemen's  part  of  the 
cabin  was  a  writing-desk,  with  a  large  sheet  of 
paper  upon  it.  This  was  the  way-bill  on  which 
the  names  of  the  passengers  were  to  be  entered. 
The  clerk,  who  was  in  the  cabin  when  Forester 
and  Marco  came  in,  took  a  pencil  up  from  the  till 
of  the  desk,  and  said  to  Forester, 

"  What  name,  sir  ?  " 

"  Forester ;  and  this  lad's  name  is  Baron,"  said 
Forester. 

So  the  clerk  wrote  Mr.  Forester  upon  the  list. 
Forester  observed  that  there  were  only  two  names 
there  before.  Under  Mr.  Forester,  ■  the  clerk 
wrote  the  name  Baron. 

"  What  time  do  you  go  ? "  said  Forester. 

"  At  nine  o'clock,"  said  the  clerk. 

Forester  looked  about  the  boat  a  few  minutes 
more,  and  then  went  up  on  deck  again,  and 
stepped  off  the  boat  upon  the  bank. 

"  It  will  be  an  hour,"  said  Forester,  "  before  we 
shall  go.  So  we  will  ramble  about  the  town 
a  little,  and  see  what  is  to  be  seen." 


GETTING   ON   BOARD.  33 

They  ascended  the  long  flight  of  stairs  again, 
which  led  up  to  the  bridge.  When  they  reached 
the  top,  Forester  proposed  that  they  should  go 
across  the  bridge,  and  look  at  the  canal  on  the 
other  side. 

They  went  to  the  other  side  and  looked  down 
upon  the  broad  and  smooth  surface  of  the  water 
which  was  spread  out  below  them.  The  view  of 
the  canal  extended  for  some  distance,  until  it  was 
lost  by  the  canal's  curving  around  to  the  right, 
where  the  prospect  was  intercepted  by  buildings. 
On  the  left  side  was  a  sort  of  street,  with  the 
canal  on  one  side  and  a  row  of  small  shops  and 
warehouses  on  the  other.  There  were  a  great 
many  men  and  large  boys  standing  idle  in  this 
street,  and  lounging  around  the  posts  which  were 
set  near  the  edge  of  the  canal.  There  were  stalls 
near,  with  nuts  and  oranges  for  sale  ;  and  children 
playing  with  each  other,  so  near  the  brink  of  the 
water  that  Forester  thought  they  must  be  in 
danger  of  falling  in.  On  the  other  side  of  the 
canal  there  was  a  path,  called  the  tow-path.  It 
was  for  the  horses  to  go  in  when  drawing  the 
boats  along  the  canal. 

While  they  stood  thus  upon  the  bridge,  looking 
down  upon  the  water,  suddenly  Marco  perceived 
two  horses  coming  into  view  along  the  curve  of 
the  tow-path,  at  a  little  distance  below.  They 
were  harnessed  one  before  the  other,  and  were 
drawing  a  long  rope.  A  moment  afterwards,  the 
bow   of    a   canal-boat,   which   the   horses    were 


34     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  EEIE  CANAL. 

towing,  appeared,  and  then  the  whole  length  of  the 
boat  glided  into  view.  It  was  not  by  any  means 
so  handsome  a  boat  as  the  packet  which  they  had 
taken  passage  in,  and  the  deck  was  covered  with 
long  rows  of  barrels. 

"  There  comes  a  load  of  flour,  I  suppose,"  said 
Forester,  "  from  the  west." 

"  Is  that  flour  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  I  presume  so,"  said  Forester.  "  I  know  that  a 
very  large  part  of  the  business  of  this  canal  is 
transporting  flour  from  the  west.  In  fact,  that  was 
one  of  the  chief  things  it  was  made  for.  There  is 
a  large  tract  of  land  in  the  western  part  of  this 
state,  and  all  around  Lake  Erie  and  the  other 
lakes,  which  is  very  fruitful  in  wheat,  and  it  was 
thought,  if  they  made  this  canal,  the  flour  might  be 
brought  down  very  easily." 

"  Did  the  farmers  make  the  canal?" 

"  No,"  said  Forester  ;  "  the  State  of  New  York 
made  it." 

"  Why  did  they  make  it  ? "  said  Marco ;  "  it  was 
not  their  flour."  j 

"  No, — but  then  the  government  knew  that  it 
would  be  of  great  advantage  to  all  the  farmers  of 
the  state  to  have  the  means  of  bringing  their 
produce  to  market ;  and  besides,  they  knew  they 
could  manage  it  so  that  the  state  should  get  paid 
again  for  making  the  canal." 

"  How  ?  "  said  Marco. 

"  By  making  every  one  pay  toll  that  comes 
through  with  a  boat.     This  man,  with  his  load  of 


GETTING   ON   BOARD.  35 

flour,  has  had  to  stop  somewhere  and  pay  toll  for 
every  barrel.  So,  if  a  man  owns  a  packet-boat,  he 
has  to  pay  toll  for  every  passenger." 

"  I  should  think  the  passengers  ought  to  pay  toll 
themselves,"  said  Marco. 

if  They  do,  in  fact,  for  the  packet  man  charges 
them  enough  to  pay  their  toll,  and  also  to  pay  him 
for  carrying  them  in  his  boat.  But  it  is  more 
convenient  to  have  the  packet  master  pay  once  for 
all,  than  it  is  for  every  man  to  stop  and  pay  his 
own  toll." 

"  "Why,  every  man  has  to  pay  to  the  packet 
man,"  said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester ;  "  but  then  he  does  it  at 
the  same  time  that  he  pays  his  own  fare,  settling 
for  both  in  one  payment,  so  that  it  is  no  additional 
trouble.  So  all  the  masters  of  the  boats  have  to 
pay  tolls,  I  suppose,  for  all  the  merchandise  and  all 
the  passengers  they  carry ;  and  all  these  tolls  are 
collected  together,  and  paid  to  the  government 
of  the  state,  and  they  make  a  very  large  sum 
every  year.     But  it  is  not  so  with  the  railroad." 

"  Why  not  ? "  said  Marco. 

"  Why.  the  railroad  was  built  by  a  company  of 
individuals,  who  put  their  money  together,  and 
they  have  built  the  cars  and  engine  too.  So  that 
the  same  parties  which  own  the  railroad,  own  the 
cars  and  engine  ;  and  they  carry  all  the  passengers 
and  all  the  freight  themselves.  They  do  not  allow 
anybody  else  to  run  on  their  road.  But  the 
State  of  New  York  does  not  own  the  canal-boats. 


36  MARCO    PAUL   ON    THE    EEIE    CANAL. 

It  only  owns  the  canal  itself,  and  it  allows  any- 
body to  run  boats  on  the  canal,  if  they  will  only 
pay  the  tolls.  There  is  no  danger  in  having  ever 
so  many  boats  go  to  and  fro,  because  they  can  pass 
by  one  another  very  easily,  but  different  trains  of 
cars,  owned  by  different  parties,  would  be  always 
coming  into  collision." 

"  I  do  n't  see  how  the  boats  can  pass  by  each 
other,"  said  Marco.  "  I  should  think  the  horses 
and  the  ropes  would  get  entangled." 

"  No,"  said  Forester  ;  "  they  have  no  difficulty ; 
you  will  see  how  they  do  it,  when  we  go  in  our 
packet." 

Long  before  this  time,  the  line -boat,  which  they 
had  seen  coming,  had  passed  under  the  bridge  and 
gone  on,  out  of  sight.  So  Forester  and  Marco 
turned  away  from  the  bridge,  and  began  to  walk 
about  the  street. 

Presently  they  came  to  a  hotel  near  the  railroad 
depot,  and  as  they  were  rather  tired  of  walking, 
they  went  in  and  sat  down.  Marco  began  to  read 
a  newspaper.  Forester  saw  a  desk  in  one  corner 
of  the  room  where  the  stage-books  were  kept,  and 
he  told  Marco  he  was  going  there  to  write  a 
letter. 

Forester  always  carried  two  or  three  sheets 
of  white  paper,  folded  in  his  pocket-book,  and 
also  a  pen.  He  had,  besides,  a  little  pocket 
inkstand  and  wafer-box,  so  that  he  could  write  his 
letters  at  any  time  and  place,  when  he  had  a  few 
minutes  of  leisure.     He  accordingly  went  to  the 


GETTING   ON    BOARD.  37 

desk  and  remained  there  nearly  half  an  hour, 
writing,  and  then  he  folded  up  his  paper  and  came 
back  and  told  Marco  it  was  time  for  them  to  go 
aboard  the  packet. 

When  they  came  in  sight  of  the  bridge,  they 
found  a  large  number  of  men  and  boys  standing 
upon  it,  looking  over  the  railing,  or  sitting  upon 
the  upper  steps  of  the  stairs. 

"  What  can  be  the  matter  there  ? "  said  Forester. 

"  I  do  not  know,"  said  Marco. 

They  went  on  to  the  place  and  looked  down 
upon  the  canal.  The  packet  was  there,  in  the 
same  position  in  which  they  had  left  ^it.  There 
were,  however,  a  great  many  more  persons  on  and 
around  it,  and  the  row  of  trunks  and  carpet-bags 
had  now  extended  almost  the  whole  length  of  the 
boat,  from  stem  to  stern.  They  could  not  see 
that  there  was  any  difficulty ;  and  besides,  now 
they  were  near,  they  perceived  that  the  crowTd 
were  calm  and  quiet,  looking  as  if  they  were 
waiting  for  something  to  come,  rather  than  inter- 
ested in  anything  which  was  then  taking  place. 

"  It  cannot  be,"  said  Forester,  "  that  all  these 
people  have  come  just  to  see  the  packet  sail !  I 
should  have  supposed  they  would  have  seen  a 
packet  sail  often  enough  at  Schenectady,  by  this 
time." 

"  I  do  not  know,"  said  Marco,  shaking  his  head, 
"  I  do  not  know  anything  about  it." 

They  passed  through  the  crowd,  and  went 
down  the  steps,  and  then  got  upon  the  boat; 
4 


38      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

though  the  space  not  occupied  by  trunks  was  so 
fully  occupied  by  men  that  it  was  difficult  for 
them  to  move  about.  At  length  Forester  found  a 
good  place  to  sit  down.  The  seat  was  a  trunk, 
and  there  was  a  roll  of  carpeting  upon  the  other 
baggage  near,  which  was  very  good  to  lean  upon. 
Here  Marco  and  Forester  established  themselves, 
and  their  attention  was  soon  absorbed  in  the 
novelty  and  interest  of  the  busy  scene  around 
them. 

They  had  not  been  many  minutes  in  this  posi- 
tion, when  they  saw  several  musical  instruments 
appear  at  the  head  of  the  flight  of  stairs,  which 
descended  from  the  bridge.  There  was  a  bugle,  a 
trumpet,  a  clarinet  and  drums. 

"  Ah ! "  said  Forester,  "  here  comes  a  band  of 
music.  This  explains  the  mystery.  The  people 
have  come  to  hear  the  music." 

The  musicians  came  down  the  stairs,  and 
stepped  over  to  the  boat  and  took  their  stations  at 
the  bows.  A  moment  after,  they  suddenly  broke 
forth  in  a  fine  martial  air,  which  made  Marco 
jump  up  from  his  seat,  so  as  to  get  a  better 
position  to  see.  He  stood  upon  a  box,  gazing 
alternately  upon  the  trumpeter  and  the  drummer 
with  great  delight. 

Forester  might  have  been  expected  to  have 
participated,  at  least  in  some  degree,  in  this  pleas- 
ure, for  he  liked  martial  music  very  much.  To 
Marco's  great  surprise,  however,  he  suddenly 
rose,  and  taking  Marco  by  the  hand,  said, 


.    •  GETTING   ON   BOARD.  39 

"  Marco,  come  with  me. 

Forester  passed  rapidly  along,  wherever  he 
could  find  an  opening  through  the  passengers  who 
thronged  the  deck,  and  clambering  over  the  bag- 
gage, jumped  of! the  boat  to  the  shore,  and  began 
to  work  his  way  as  fast  as  he  could,  wherever  he 
could  find  a  passage  through  the  crowd,  towards 
the  stairs,  and  then  up  to  the  bridge.  Marco  had 
no  opportunity  to  ask  him  where  he  was  going. 

As  soon  as  he  reached  the  street  he  said, 

"  I  have  left  my  little  inkstand  at  the  tavern.  I 
shall  just  have  time  to  run  and  get  it.  Come 
along  as  fast  as  you  can." 

"  Well,"  said  Marco,  "  only  if  they  go  off  before 
we  get  back,  we  shall  lose  our  baggage." 

"  I  do  not  think  they  will  go  off,"  said  Forester. 
"  It  is  five  minutes  of  nine  yet.  Besides,  I  pre- 
sume they  will  play  a  little  while  before  they  go. 
At  any  rate,  I  must  have  my  inkstand." 

They  hastened  to  the  tavern.  Marco  remained 
at  the  door  while  Forester  went  in.  He  found  his 
little  inkstand  on  the  desk  where  he  had  left  it. 
The  cover  was  by  the  side'of  it.  He  seized  his 
lost  property,  and  hastened  back  to  the  door, 
screwing  on  the  cover  as  he  went. 

"  Have  you  got  it  ? "  said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester,  "  and  now  we  will  go 
Dack  as  fast  as  we  can." 

"And  if  they  have  gone  you  will  lose  your 
baggage." 

"No,"  said  Forester,  "for  we  can  go  by  fhe 


40     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

railroad,  and  so  get  to  Utica  before  the  packet,  and 
wait  there  till  it  comes,  and  thus  get  our  baggage. 
But  I  think  we  shall  be  in  time." 

Forester  was  mistaken.  As  they  looked  towards 
the  bridge  they  saw  the  crowd  running  across, 
from  the  lower  side,  where  they  had  been  stand- 
ing, to  the  upper  side,  which  indicated  very 
certainly  that  the  packet  was  passing  under  the 
bridge.  This  was  confirmed  by  the  sound  of  the 
music,  which  they  could  now  distinctly  hear, 
gliding  along  upon  the  water. 

Now  it  happened  that  just  as  Forester  and 
Marco  were  running  thus  towards  the  bridge, 
they  perceived  another  young  man  before  them, 
having  a  paper  of  some  sort  in  his  hand,  who 
appeared  to  be  also  making  his  way  as  fast  as 
possible  towards  the  boat.  The  people  on  the 
bridge,  seeing  at  once  that  there  were  passengers 
left  behind,  began  immediately  to  shout  to  the 
packet. 

11  Ho!"  said  one. 

"  Hold  up  ! "  said  another. 

"  Ho-a — H-e-y,"  cried  another. 

If  it  had  been  daylight  those  on  board  the 
packet  would  probably  at  once  have  perceived  the 
truth  of  the  case,  and  the  captain  would  have 
ordered  the  boy,  who  was  driving  the  horses,  on 
the  tow-path,  to  have  stopped.  But  it  was  now 
nine  o'clock.  There  was  a  moon  rising,  it  was 
true,  which  furnished  light  enough  to  enable 
those  who  were  on  the  bridge  to  see  Forester  and 
the  others  running,  but  they  could  not  see  them 


GETTING   ON    BOARD.  "  41 

from  the  packet.  And  then  the  loud  notes  of  the 
music  in  a  great  measure  drowned  the  sound  of 
the  voices  calling  upon  the  packet  to  stop.  The 
boy  who  was  driving,  looked  around  and  slackened 
his  pace,  but  he  had  been  going  very  swiftly 
before,  and  the  boat  glided  along  rapidly  with  the 
momentum  it  had  already  acquired.  Some  of  the 
musicians,  hearing  a  hubbub,  stopped  playing; 
others  went  on.  In  fact,  the  boat  and  all  connected 
with  it,  assumed  an  expression  of  the  utmost 
uncertainty  and  indecision. 

"  We  will  run  on  and  overtake  them,"  said  the 
young  man  with  the  paper  in  his  hand.  Forester 
supposed  that  he  belonged  to  the  boat,  and  he  and 
Marco  followed  him. 

They  ran  down  the  bank  of  the  canal  on  the 
upper  side  of  the  bridge,  where  they  had  seen  the 
stalls  of  nuts  and  oranges.  The  canal  was  here 
very  wide,  being  expanded  into  a  sort  of  basin, 
and  as  the  tow-path  was  on  the  opposite  bank,  the 
packet  was  at  a  considerable  distance  from  them. 
If  they  had  crossed  the  bridge  before  they 
descended  to  the  bank  of  the  canal,  it  would  have 
been  better,  as  this  would  have  brought  them,  upon 
the  tow-path,  where  they  would  have  been  nearer 
the  packet ;  and  it  would  have  been  easy  for  the 
helmsman  to  have  steered  up  near  to  the  bank,  so 
that  they  might  have  jumped  on.  But  they  had 
no  time  to  think  of  this,  and  thus  it  happened  that 
they  found  themselves  running  along  the  bank  on 
the  wrong  side  of  the  canal. 
4* 


42     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

The  packet  went  slower  and  slower,  and  the 
music  ceased.  Forester  and  his  party  found  that 
they  were  getting  before  it. 

"  We  will  run  on  here  to  the  next  bridge,"  said 
the  young  man,  "  and  then  we  can  get  aboard." 

Forester  had  thus  far  supposed  that  this  young 
man  was  connected  with  the  boat  in  some  way, 
and  was  only  endeavoring  to  stop  it,  in  order  that 
he  and  Marco  might  get  on  board.  When  he 
found,  however,  that  he  was  putting  himself  to  a 
great  deal  of  trouble,  he  said, 

"  Oh,  it 's  of  no  great  consequence,  sir ;  we 
don't  care  particularly  about  getting  on  board." 

"  But  I  want  to  get  on  board  myself,"  said  the 
young  man. 

"  Do  you  belong  to  the  boat  ?"  asked  Forester. 

"  No,"  said  the  young  man  ;  "  but  I  want  to  go 
on  her.  We  will  run  along  to  this  next  bridge, 
and  then  we  can  jump  down  on  the  boat  when  she 
passes  under." 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Forester  ;  "  I  expect  you 
are  more  used  to  jumping  off  from  a  bridge  upon 
a  canal -boat,  than  we  are." 

"  0,  you  can  do  it,"  said  the  young  man, 
"  only  you  must  be  quick ;  she  '11  go  under  like  a 
shot." 

Forester  had  no  idea  of  exposing  either  himself 
or  Marco  to  any  risk.  Still  they  pressed  on; 
half  running,  half  walking,  'for  a  short  distance 
farther,  when  they  reached  at  length  a  long 
wooden  bridge,  which  here  crossed  the  canal.     It 


GETTING   ON    BOARD.  43 

was  old,  and  high  above  the  water  ;  and  it  shook 
fearfully  as  they  went  over  it.  They  had,  how- 
ever, outstripped  the  packet,  for  when  they  got 
upon  the  middle  of  the  bridge,  they  saw  it  quite 
behind  them,  but  coming  along  slowly  up  the 
canal. 

There  was  also  another  boat  just  then  coming 
down  the  canal,  and  the  horses  of  the  two  boats 
passed  each  other  under  the  bridge,  just  as  For- 
ester and  Marco  were  going  over  above ;  and 
when  they  got  down  upon  the  tow-path,  on  the 
other  side,  the  two  boats  were  just  shooting  under 
the  bridge,  one  in  one  direction,  and  the  other  in 
tne  other.  Marco  thought  they  would  certainly 
come  into  collision ;  and  in  fact  the  tow-lines 
seemed  to  him  already  all  entangled  together. 

However,  the  boats  did  not  interfere  ;  the  horses 
and  the  tow-lines  cleared  each  other  in  a  moment, 
and  the  packet  came  gliding  along,  not  far  from 
the  bank  where  Forester  and  Marco  were  stand- 
ing. The  young  man  jumped  on  board  and  the 
people  who  were  standing  upon  the  lower  deck- at 
the  stern,  held  out  their  hands  to  Forester,  and 
said, 

"  Jump  !  jump  ! " 

They  spoke  eagerly,  for  the  boat  was  then 
receding  again,  and  they  knew  that  in  a  moment 
it  would  be  too  late.  Forester  saw  this  too  ;  but 
tie  did  not  attempt  to  jump.  He  shook  his  head, 
and  said, 

"  Not  I.  I  have  no  idea  of  getting  into  the 
canal." 


44     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

In  fact,  Forester  felt  very  easy  about  his  passage 
now,  for  he  knew  very  well  that  after  showing  so 
much  eagerness  to  get  passengers,  the  man  who 
had  charge  of  the  packet  would  not  go  off  and 
leave  him  and  Marco,  when  it  was  so  easy  to 
slacken  their  speed  and  let  them  get  in.  If  a  man 
arrives  at  a  landing  just  too  late  for  the  steamboat, 
his  case  is  generally  hopeless  ;  for  a  steamboat  is 
so  large  and  unwieldy,  and  it  moves,  when  it  is 
once  put  in  motion,  with  so  great  a  momentum, 
that  it  is  seldom  worth  while  to  stop  for  a  single 
passenger.  The  case  is  very  different  with  a 
packet  on  the  canal. 

As  Forester  expected,  the  helmsman  put  his 
helm  off  to  the  farther  side  of  the  boat,  and  this 
caused  the  bows  to  turn  in  towards  the  shore.  It 
came  so  near  that  Forester  and  Marco  stepped  on 
board  without  any  difficulty.  They  made  their 
way  as  well  as  they  could,  among  the  men  who 
weljjfetill  standing  upon  the  deck,  to  their  former 
position  by  the  roll  of  carpeting,  where  they  took 
their  seats  again.  The  boy  whipped  up  his 
horses,  the  musicians  commenced  playing  the 
Grand  March  in  Abaellino,  the  boat  began  to 
glide  swiftly  along,  washing  the  banks  with  the 
swell,  which  followed  in  her  stern, — and  behold, 
Marco  and  Forester  fairly  embarked  on  the  canal. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

NIGHT. 

The  first  sensations  which  Marco  and  Forester 
experienced  were  delightful.  They  passed  almost 
immediately  from  the  suburbs  of  the  town,  into  a 
delightful  country,  and  they  found  themselves 
gliding  swiftly  along  among  groves  and  beautiful 
green  fields ;  the  moonlight  shedding  a  soft  and 
gentle  radiance  over  the  whole  scene.  The  tones 
of  the  music  resounded  loud  and  full  in  the  still 
evening  air,  and  echoed  from  the  hills.  The 
smooth  tow-path  lay  along  the  side  of  the  canal,  a 
few  inches  above  the-  surface  of  the  water.  Be- 
yond it  was  a  fence,  and  the  full  moon,  which  was 
just  rising  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  sky,  cast  a 
shadow  of  the  men,  standing  upon  the  deck,  upon 
the  fence,  where  they  glided  along  noiselessly  like 
a  group  of  apparitions. 

In  a  few  moments,  Marco  saw  before  him  two 
bright  lights,  which  seemed  to  be  in  motion. 
They  were  approaching.  He  soon  saw  that  they 
were  lights  in  the  bow  of  another  boat,  coming  to 
meet  them.  Now  he  thought  that  he  should  have 
an  opportunity  to  see  how  one  boat  could  get  by 
another. 


46      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

The  boat  that  was  coming  was  a  line-boat,  that 
is,  one  made  to  carry  merchandise.  It  was  loaded 
with  lumber.  It  was  drawn  by  two  horses.  The 
line-boats  are  usually  drawn  by  two  horses,  while 
the  packets  have  three.  As  the  horses  were  at 
some  distance  before  the  boats,  they  would  neces- 
sarily meet  upon  the  tow-path  considerably  before 
the  boats  would  meet  upon  the  canal. 

As  the  two  sets  of  horses  approached,  the  line- 
boat  horses  turned  off  the  path  a  little,  on  the  side  of 
the  path  farthest  from  the  canal,  and  then  stopped 
a  moment  so  as  to  allow  the  packet  horses  to  go  by 
them.  The  horses  were  stopped  a  moment,  in 
order  to  let  the  tow-rope,  which  they  were  pulling, 
fall  down  upon  the  path,  so  that  the  packet  horses 
could  step  over  it  easily.  Then,  when  the  boats 
approached  each  other,  the  helmsman  on  board 
the  line-boat  steered  his  boat  out,  away  from  the 
tow-path,  and  the  helmsman  of  the  packet  steered 
his  in,  towards  the  tow-path.  By  this  means  the 
rope  of  the  line-boat  came  exactly  across  in  the 
way  where  the  packet  was  to  go,  and  it  seemed  as 
if  it  was  going  to  cut  across  the  packet's  bows. 
But  just  before  the  bows  of  the  packet  came 
against  the  rope,  the  boy  who  was  driving  the  line- 
boat  horses,  stopped  a  moment,  and  as  the  line- 
boat  kept  moving  on  after  the  horses  had  stopped, 
it  caused  the  tow-rope  to  drop  down  into  the 
water,  and  it  sunk  so  low  that  the  packet-boat 
sailed  directly  over  it,  without  difficulty.  The 
boy  began  to  drive  his  horses  along  as  soon  as  the 


NIGHT.  47 

rope  was  fairly  under  the  boat,  and  Marco  could 
hear  it  rubbing  along  the  bottom  of  the  boat,  and 
it  came  up  into  the  air  again  as  soon  as  it  escaped 
at  the  stern.  Then  the  boats  were  clear  of  each 
other,  and  each  pursued  its  way. 

Thus  it  was  in  all  cases,  when  the  packet  met 
the  line-boats.  They  would  always  check  their 
horses,  so  as  to  let  that  part  of  the  rope  which 
was  over  the  tow-path  fall  down  upon  the  ground, 
and  that  part  which  was  over  the  canal,  sink  into 
the  water.  By  this  means,  the  packet  horses 
could  step  over  the  part  which  would  otherwise 
have  been  in  their  way,  and  the  packet  itself  could 
sail  over  that  part  which  would  have  been  in  its 
way. 

In  case  the  driver  of  the  line-boat  horses  should 
not  stop  his  horses  quick  enough,  there  might 
have  been  danger  that  his  tow-rope  would  have 
gone  above  instead  of  going  under  the  packet- 
boat.  This  would  have  been  very  disastrous  in 
its  effects,  for  the  rope  would  have  been  drawn 
along  with  great  force  over  the  deck  of  the  packet, 
and  perhaps  pull  the  passengers  and  the  baggage 
off  the  decks  into  the  water.  To  prevent  this, 
there  was  attached  to  the  bows  of  the  packet,  at 
the  top,  a  hooked  knife,  shaped  like  a  sickle,  with 
its  edge  turned  towards  the  front.  If  now  the 
tow-line  of  a  boat  coming  the  other  way  were  to 
catch  so  high  that  it  would  slip  up  instead  of 
down,  this  hook  would  catch  it  and  cut  it  off. 
Forester   explained '  this   to   Marco,   and   Marco 


48      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

thought  it  was  a  very  ingenious  contrivance.  He 
could  not  help  wishing  that  a, rope  would  get 
caught  so,  in  order  that  he  might  see  it  cut  off. 
But  no  such  case  occurred.  In  fact,  the  line-boats 
are  very  careful  to  let  the  rope  drop  down  soon 
enough.  If  they  are  not,  their  rope  gets  cut  off, 
and  they  have  to  tie  it ;  and  thus  in  a  short  time 
it  gets  full  of  knots. 

Forester  and  Marco  after  this  remained  for 
some  time  upon  the  deck,  watching  the  changes  in 
the  scenery,  and  listening  to  the  music,  until 
at  length  they  found  that  the  evening  air  began  to 
feel  cool  and  chilly,  and  then  they  concluded  to  go 
into  the  cabin. 

The  cabin  was  nearly  full.  A  great  many  men 
were  seated  on  the  cushioned  seats,  which  ex- 
tended along  the  sides.  Others  were  upon  stools 
by  the  tables,  and  some  were  standing.  The 
captain,  who  was  a  very  young  looking  man,  not 
much  older  than  Forester,  was  just  taking  his 
place  at  the  little  portable  desk  which  was  upon 
one  of  the  tables,  to  receive  the  money  from  his 
passengers.  Those  whose  names  had  been  already 
put  down,  paid  first,  and  then  the  others  came  up 
one  by  one,  and  the  captain  entered  their  names 
as  fast  as  he  received  their  money.  The  passen- 
gers were  all  talking  about  the  crowded  state 
of  the  boat,  and  wondering  what  they  were  going 
to  do  in  the  night.  They  said  it  would  not  be 
possible  to  prepare  places  enough  for  them  all  to 
sleep.     Forester  and  Marco  both  thought,  from  the 


NIGHT.  49 

conversation,  that  it  was  unusual  to  have  so  large 
a  number  of  passengers. 

It  took  a  great  while  to  receive  all  the  money. 
There  was  a  little  calculation  to  be  made  in  each 
case,  and  the  change  to  be  given.  For  the  passen- 
gers were  not  all  going  to  Utica.  Some  were 
going  to  stop  at  Canajoharie,  some  at  Little  Falls, 
and  some  at  other  places  along  the  canal,  and  the 
captain  charged  each  passenger  a  fare  in  propor- 
tion to  the  distance  which  he  was  to  go. 

While  the  captain  was  transacting  his  business 
in  the  cabin  with  his  passengers,  Marco  and  For- 
ester suddenly  perceived  that  the  boat  began  to  be 
thrown,  at  once,  into  a  state  of  violent  agitation. 
It  rose  and  fell,  and  thumped  against  one  side  and 
the  other,  and  Marco  could  hear  a  strange  rushing 
sound  as  of  water  dashing  against  it.  Marco  was 
startled.  His  first  idea  was  that  the  boat  had 
burst  her  boiler,  but  this  feeling  was  momentary  ; 
for  he  recollected  in  an  instant  that  a  canal-boat 
had  not  any  boiler. 

"  What 's  the  matter  now  ? "  said  Marco,  looking 
alarmed. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Forester.  So  saying,  he 
began  to  open  the  window  to  see. 

"  We  are  only  going  through  a  lock,"  said  a 
gentleman  who  sat  near  him. 

"  A  lock  !"  said  Marco,  "  let  us  go  and  see." 

By  this  time,  Forester  had  opened  the  window. 
The  sash  was  made  to  slide  along  horizontally, 
that  is,  to  one  side,  and  not  upwards  like  the 
5 


50      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

window  of  a  house.  Outside  of  the  window  were 
the  red  blinds  which  have  already  been  described. 
Forester  pushed  open  one  of  these,  and  it  went 
against  a  wet  stone  wall. 

The  boat  was  moving  restlessly  about,  and  by 
watching  a  moment  they  perceived  that  it  was 
rising  higher  and  higher,  as  they  could  see  very 
plainly  by  the  seams  and  stones  of  the  wall.  At 
length  they  reached  the  top  of  the  wall,  and  then 
Forester  could  open  the  blind  wide.  He  perceived 
a  sort  of  street,  which  extended  back  from  the  top 
of  the  wall,  with  some  buildings  on  the  opposite 
side  of  it.  Marco  was  very  much  surprised  at 
this  process,  though  Forester  knew  before  that  in 
passing  through  a  lock,  from  a  lower  to  a  higher 
level  on  a  canal,  the  boat  first  went  into  the  lock, 
which  was  a  narrow  enclosure,  surrounded  on  all 
sides  with  high  stone  walls,  and  that  then  water 
was  let  in,  which  buoyed  the  boat  up  to  the 
higher  level ;  and  that  then  the  gates  were 
opened  and  the  boat  was  ready  to  sail  on. 

He  was  not,  therefore,  surprised  to  find  the  boat 
rising,  though,  as  he  had  never  been  through  a 
lock  before,  he  was  much  interested  in  watching 
the  effects.  A  moment  after  the  boat  had  risen  to 
its  proper  level,  it  began  to  move  on  again,  along 
the  canal,  just  as  before.  Then  Forester  drew 
the  blind  back  and  shut  the  window,  as  the  night 
air  was  very  cool. 

"  I  wonder  what  has  become  of  our  music,"  said 
Marco;   "  let  us  go  and  see." 


NIGHT. 


51 


"  You  may  go,"  said  Forester. 

So  Marco  went  up  on  deck ;  but  the  musicians 
were  nowhere  to  be  seen.  Marco  saw,  however, 
at  a  short  distance  before  him,  a  bridge  leading 
across  the  canal.  It  was  so  low  that  it  seemed  to 
Marco  that  there  was  only  just  room  for  the  boat 
to  squeeze  under.  He  thought  that  all  the  men 
and  all  the  baggage  would  be  swept  off  the  deck 
by  it.  He  accordingly  hastened  back  to  the  stern, 
and  got  down  upon  the  lower  deck,  where  he 
could  be  safe.  A  moment  afterwards,  just  as  the 
boat  reached  the  bridge,  the  man  at  the  helm 
called  out,  in  a  loud  voice, 

"  Bridge ! " 

Instantly  all  the  men  upon  the  deck  bowed 
their  heads,  and  to  Marco's  great  surprise  they 
glided  under  it  in  safety,  and  the  heads  all  came 
up  together  again,  as  soon  as  the  boat  emerged  on 
the  other  side.  Marco  was  very  much  surprised, 
for  it  seemed  certain,  when  he  first  saw  the  bridge, 
that  it  was  as  low  as  the  top  of  the  boat.  This 
was  an  optical  illusion.  Marco  afterwards  ob- 
served a  great  number  of  other  bridges,  as  the 
packet  approached  them,  and  they  all  appeared 
much  lower  than  they  really  were. 

Marco  perceived  that  they  were  sailing  up  the 
valley  of  the  Mohawk,  as  Forester  had  before 
said  they  would  do,  when  they  were  talking 
about  their  intended  excursion  at  Albany.  He 
very  often  had  a  view  of  the  river  itself,  from  his 
place  on  the   top  of  the   boat.     Still  more   fre- 


52      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

quently  he  could  see  the  broad  meadows  which 
were  upon  each  side  of  the  river,  and  which  were 
bounded  in  the  distance  by  verdant  hills. 

Marco  soon  felt  that  it  was  cold,  and  so  he  went 
into  the  cabin  again.  He  sat  down  upon  a  stool, 
and  began  to  listen  to  some  conversation  between 
Forester  and  one  or  two  other  gentlemen  who 
were  sitting  there.  He  was  soon  interrupted, 
however,  for  the  captain,  after  having  finished 
receiving  his  payments,  and  putting  away  his 
money,  rose  and  said, 

"  Now,  gentlemen,  if  you  will  let  us  have  the 
cabin,  we  will  make  up  the  berths." 

"  Wre  shall  have  to  take  the  tow-path  then," 
said  one  of  the  men  who  were  sitting  there,  "  for 
there  is  no  room  for  us  on  deck." 

The  passengers  seemed  rather  reluctant  to  go 
on  deck.  However,  a  number  of  them  soon  rose 
and  moved  slowly  out  of  the  cabin.  Some  of 
them  went  up  on  the  upper  deck ;  others  crowded 
around  the  helmsman  at  the  stern.  Forester  and 
Marco  went  there  because  they  were  a  little  afraid 
of  the  bridges.  By  standing  at  the  stern,  they  were 
on  the  lower  deck,  and  their  heads  were  more  evi- 
dently safe.  There  would  have  been  little  danger 
on  the  upper  deck,  however,  for  the  helmsman 
always  called  out  "  Bridge"  whenever  the  boat 
approached  a  bridge ;  so  that  even  if  a  person 
should  happen  to  be  looking  the  other  way,  he 
would  not  come  upon  the  danger  without  warn- 
ing. 


NIGHT.  53 

The  helmsman  found  it  somewhat  difficult  to 
see  which  way  to  steer,  there  were  so  many 
persons  standing  up  before  him  on  the  deck.  At 
length  he  said.,  in  a  gentle  voice, 

"  The  boat  would  go  better,  if  the  gentlemen 
would  go  farther  forward.  She  would  not  draw  so 
much  swell  after  her." 

Marco  and  Forester  looked  at  the  swell.  It 
formed  a  great  wave,  which  seemed  to  dash  con- 
tinually along  the  banks  of  the  canal,  just  behind 
the  boat.  They  understood  that  the  helmsman 
meant  that  by  crowding  into  the  back  part  of  the 
boat,  the  passengers  caused  that  part  to  sink  deep 
into  the  water,  and  thus  to  increase  the  swell. 

"  It  makes  her  bows  rise  right  up,"  said  the 
helmsman,  speaking  to  one  of  the  hands  belonging 
to  the  boat,  who  stood  near  him. 

The  passengers,  however,  paid  no  attention  to 
these  intimations  of  the  steersman.  Forester 
thought  that  it  was  better  to  have  the  boat  draw  a 
great  swell  than  that  he  and  Marco  should  get 
knocked  off  into  the  canal,  by  a  bridge.  What 
reasons  influenced  the  others  are  uncertain,  but 
none  of  them  moved. 

They  all  stood  in  this  manner,  almost  in  perfect 
silence,  for  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  Now  and 
then,  two  or  three  who  were  standing  near  together, 
held  a  little  conversation,  in  an  under  tone,  and 
frequently  Marco  pointed  out  something  to  For- 
ester's notice.  At  length  their  attention  was 
aroused  by  hearing  a  voice  coming  out  from 
5* 


54     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

among  the  persons  who  were  standing  around  the 
door  of  the  cabin.     It  called  out, 

"  Mr.  Forester." 

"  Here,"  said  Forester. 

"  Come  forward,  Mr.  Forester,  and  choose  your 
berth,"  said  the  voice. 

So  Forester  made  his  way,  as  well  as  he  could, 
into  the  cabin,  Marco  following  him.  Forester 
pushed  forward  rapidly  to  the  upper  end  of  the 
cabin,  and  putting  his  hand  upon  a  berth,  said,  "I 
choose  this,  sir." 

While  he  was  walking  forward,  Marco  had 
time  to  observe  the  changes  which  had  taken 
place  in  the  cabin  while  he  and  Forester  had  been 
out.  The  curtain  was  drawn  before  the  ladies' 
saloon,  so  that  that  part  of  the  cabin  was  now  cut 
off  from  view.  Over  the  place  where  the  seats 
had  been,  that  is,  along  the  sides  of  the  cabin, 
were  rows  of  berths,  just  wide  enough  for  a  man 
to  lie  in,  and  just  far  enough  apart  for  a  man  to 
creep  in  between  them.  There  were  three  in 
each  tier ;  an  upper,  a  middle  and  a  lower  one. 
Forester  chose  the  middle  one,  in  the  tier  which 
was  nearest  the  ladies'  saloon. 

"Very  well,  sir,"  said  the  captain,  "you  had 
better  get  right  into  it,  before  anybody  else  gets 
it."  Then,  looking  at  his  paper  again,  the  captain 
moved  towards  the  door  of  the  cabin  and  called 
out,  in  a  loud  voice, 

"  Mr.  Baron." 

Marco  and  Forester  both  laughed,  and  Forester, 


NIGHT.  55 

putting  his  hand  upon  Marco's  shoulder,  said, 
"Here." 

The  captain  smiled  too  when  he  found  that  the 
Mr.  Baron,  whose  name  he  had  announced  so 
pompously,  was  only  Marco. 

"  Very  well,"  said  he,  "  let  him  take  the  berth 
right  oyer  you.  He  is  young  and  spry,  and  can 
climb." 

"  Shall  I  undress  myself?"  said  Marco  to  For- 
ester in  a  low  tone. 

4 

"  No,"  said  Forester,  "  only  take  off  your  shoes 
and  hat." 

Marco  had  some  difficulty  in  climbing  up  into 
his  berth,  and  Forester  had  still  more  in  getting 
into  his.  They  found  that  the  berth  consisted  of 
a  piece  of  canvass  stretched  ^across  a  frame,  with 
one  sheet  and  one  coverlid  upon  it.  There  was 
also  a  little  square  pillow  at  the  head,  smaller  and 
thinner  than  anything  that  Marco  had  ever  seen 
for  a  pillow  before. 

In  the  meantime  the  captain  went  on,  calling 
the  other  names  in  the  order  in  which  they  stood 
upon  his  list ;  and  as  fast  as  the  men  were  called 
they  chose  their  berths  and  got  into  them. 

The  passengers  seemed  very  much  disposed  to 
be  dissatisfied  at  the  closeness  of  their  quarters. 
The  frames  which  supported  the  berths  appeared 
to  be  very  frail,  and  they  creaked  and  settled  as 
the  occupants  got  into  them,  as  if  they  were 
coming  down.  One  man,  who  was  in  the  middle 
berth,   opposite    to    Forester's,    across  the  cabin, 


56  MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

began  to  punch  the  lodger  who  was  above  him, 
with  his  knee ;  for  the  berths  were  so  near 
together  that  a  very  slight  flexure  of  any  of  the 
limbs  of  one  in  a  lower  berth,  brought  an  elbow  or 
a  knee  into  contact  with  the  under  side  of  the  bed 
above.  "  Lie  still,  down  there,"  said  the  lodger 
above.  "  Then  keep  off  of  me,"  said  the  lodger 
below.  This  dialogue  was  followed  with  a  loud 
peal  of  laughter  from  all  around. 

In  the  meantime,  the  cabin  began  to  get  very 
full,  as  more  and  more  names  were  called  and  the 
persons  answering  to  them  came  in  from  the  deck. 
The  voices  became  loud,  and  jocose  remarks  and 
laughter  broke  forth  in  every  direction ;  and  thus 
before  long  the  cabin  became  full  of  confusion, 
frolic  and  fun. 

Marco  lay  still,  enjoying  the  scene  very  much. 
He  listened  to  hear  the  various  sounds  which 
came  to  his  ear  from  every  part  of  the  cabin. 
Every  now  and  then,  the  loud  voice  of  the  cap- 
tain, calling  out,  Mr.  Green,  or  Mr.  Williams, 
or  some  other  passenger's  name,  rose  above  the 
general  din.  A  great  deal  of  the  noise  was  con- 
fused and  indistinct ;  but  Marco  could  get  catches 
of  the  conversation,  which,  as  it  came  to  his  ear 
from  various  parts  of  the  cabin,  sounded  some- 
what as  follows  : 

"  I  wish  I  had  a  string  to  tie  up  my  hat  and 
hang  it  up  ;  for  there  is  no  place  to  put  it  down 
anywhere." — "  Captain,  what  are  you  going  to  do 
with  the  rest  of  us  that  have  not  got  any  berths  *  " 


NIGHT.  57 

— "  Oh,  what  a  pillow  !  'tis  n't  bigger  than  my 
hand." — "Do  you  kick,  sir,  in  your  sleep?" — 
"Kick!  yes,  sir." — "  For  if  you  do  I  don't  want 
you  over  my  head." — "  Captain,  where  shall  I  put 
my  boots  ? "— "  Mr.  Belden."  "Here."  "Choose 
your  berth,  sir."  "  They  're  all  taken  but  that  one." 
— "  Gentlemen,  don't  make  such  a  noise, — I  want 
to  go  to  sleep." — "My  pillow  is  so  thin,  captain, 
that  it  makes  my  head  lower  than  my  heels." 

These  and  similar  sounds  grew  louder  and 
more  confused,  the  more  Marco  listened  to  them. 
He  was  at  first  much  amused ;  but  he  was  tired 
and  sleepy.  He  shut  his  eyes,  and  once  or  twice 
almost  lost  himself  in  slumber.  At  length  he 
heard  a  peculiar  thump  and  a  dash  of  water  about 
the  boat.  He  aroused  himself  and  looked  up. 
The  noise  which  he  heard  was  evidently  without. 
It  was  the  noise  made  by  the  boat  passing  through 
a  lock.  As  soon  as  Marco  understood  this,  he 
was  surprised  to  find  that  the  cabin,  within,  was 
entirely  still. 

He  put  his  head  out  over  the  edge  of  his  berth 
and  looked  down.  The  floor  was  entirely  covered 
with  sleepers.  They  were  lying  across  the  cabin, 
with  their  heads  upon  the  cushions,  which  had 
been  taken  off  the  seats.  Their  heads  were  close 
to  the  line  of  berths  on  one  side,  and  their  feet  to 
those  on  the  other.  The  width  of  the  boat  was 
just  enough  to  let  them  lie  so.  They  were  close 
together,  and  the  range  extended  through  the 
whole  length  of  the  cabin.     They  all  appeared  to 


58      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

be  sleeping  quietly.  Marco  listened,  and  when 
the  agitation  of  the  boat,  occasioned  by  its  pass- 
ing the  lock,  ceased,  he  could  hear  no  sound 
except  the  occasional  tread  of  footsteps  upon  the 
deck  above  him. 

"  It  must  be  midnight,"  said  Marco  to  himself, 
"  and  I  have  been  asleep  all  this  time." 

The  next  thing  Marco  was  conscious  of  was 
hearing  a  voice  on  the  other  side  of  the  cabin, 
saying, 

"  Come,  Charles,  get  up." 

He  opened  his  eyes,  and  he  saw  a  man  standing 
before  a  berth,  trying  to  awake  the  person  who 
was  occupying  it. 

"  What  do  you  want?"  said  the  man  whom  he 
called  Charles,  in  a  sleepy  voice. 

"  Come,  the  captain  says  we  must  get  up." 

"  What  for  ?  "  said  Charles. 

"  Because,  it's  morning." 

Here  Marco  turned  and  looked  out  of  the  win- 
dow which  was  opposite  to  his  berth.  It  was 
indeed  morning.  The  sun  was  gilding  the  tops 
of  the  trees.  Just  then  he  saw  Forester  get  out 
of  his  berth,  and  so  Marco  came  down  from  his 
too. 

When  Forester  and  Marco  had  put  on  their 
shoes  and  hats,  they  went  oat  of  the  cabin. 
They  found  the  men  who  had  preceded  them  in 
getting  up,  washing  themselves  from  a  basin  which 
was  placed  upon  a  little  bench,  near  the  place 
where  the  steersman  stood.    There  was  a  looking- 


NIGHT.  59 

glass  too,  hanging  in  a  place  where  there  was 
just  room  enough  for  one  person  to  stand,  with  a 
comb  and  a  hair-brush  by  the  side  of  it.  There 
was  a  door  opened  into  a  little  kitchen  in  that 
part  of  the  boat,  where  a  black  cook  seemed  to  be 
getting  some  breakfast.  Marco  looked  at  all  these 
things  with  great  interest ;  and  even  Forester  re- 
garded them  with  some  curiosity,  but  he  did  not 
seem  to  feel  much  personal  interest  in  these  means 
and  facilities  for  supplying  his  usual  morning 
wants.  Marco,  too,  as  soon  as  he  had  once  seen 
these  novelties  began  to  look  rather  sober.  It  was 
cold  and  chilly  outside,  and  everything  in  the 
cabin  looked  cheerless  and  uncomfortable  ;  for  the 
room  was  full  of  berths  and  beds,  and  of  persons 
getting  up  from  them.  In  a  word,  both  Marco  and 
Forester  were  satisfied  with  travelling  on  the 
canal. 

At  length  Forester  said  to  Marco,  in  a  low 
tone,  as  they  stood  together  looking  upon  the 
Mohawk  river,  which  at  this  place  was  in  full 
view  before  them, 

"  I've  been  thinking,  Marco,  that  we  had  better 
go  ashore  at  Canajoharie,  and  take  the  railroad 
for  the  rest  of  the  way." 

"  Well,"  said  Marco. 

"  It  is  twenty  or  thirty  miles  yet  to  Little  Falls, 
and  it  will  take  us  five  or  six  hours  to  go  there  in 
the  packet.  But  in  about  an  hour  we  shall  get  to 
Canajoharie,  and  then  we  can  get  out  and  ramble 


W  MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

around  till  the  cars  come  along.  Then  we  can  go 
quick  and  pleasantly  to  Little  Falls." 

"  Well,"  said  Marco ;  "  but  how  do  you  know 
that  the  cars  go  through  Canajoharie  ?  " 

"  Why,  I  know  that  the  railroad  runs  up  the 
valley  of  the  Mohawk,  and  so  it  cannot  be  far 
from  the  canal  and  river.  I  think  it  will  be 
pleasanter  to  go  that  way.  And  besides,  we  can 
then  get  a  good  comfortable  breakfast  at  a  hotel." 

So  this  plan  was  agreed  upon,  and  Marco  and 
Forester  jumped  off  the  boat  at  Canajoharie. 


CHAPTER  V. 
CANAJOHARIE. 

Just  before  the  boat  reached  Canajoharie,  it 
had  to  pass  through  a  lock.  Forester  saw  this 
lock  represented  on  the  profile  of  the  canal,  which 
was  drawn  on  a  corner  of  his  map.  It  was  plain 
from  the  profile  that  the  lock  was  only  a  short 
distance  from  the  village,  and  so  Forester  pro- 
posed to  Marco  that  they  should  get  out  at  the 
lock,  and  walk  the  rest  of  the  way  along  the  bank 
of  the  canal. 

"  Well,"  said  Marco,  "  I  should  like  it." 

"  By  this  means,"  said  Forester,  "  we  shall  see 
the  place  a  little  better ;  and  besides,  we  can  warm 
ourselves  by  the  exercise  of  walking." 

So  Forester  got  his  carpet-bag  and  umbrella, 
and  placed  them  near  the  stern  of  the  boat,  and  he 
and  Marco,  taking  their  stand  there,  watched  the 
progress  of  the  boat  as  it  glided  along  towards  the 
lock. 

"  And  now,"  said  Forester,  "  we  shall  have  an 
opportunity  to  see  exactly  how  they  manage  the 
business  of  passing  through  a  lock." 

They  saw  that  as  the  canal  approached  the 
lock,  it  suddenly  narrowed  and  entered  between 
6 


62     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

two  high,  walls  of  stone,  so  near  each  other  thai 
there  was  just  room  for  the  boat  to  go  in.  This 
was  the  lock,  and  at  the  farthest  end  of  it  were 
two  great  wooden  gates,  which  closed  the  passage- 
way, and  Marco  did  not  see  how  they  were  to  get 
through. 

Beyond  these  gates,  Marco  could  see  the  canal 
again,  but  it  stood  at  a  much  higher  elevation 
than  it  did  below.  The  water  seemed  to  press 
heavily  against  the  gates,  and  some  of  it  spouted 
through  the  crevices.  The  horses  trotted  along 
the  bank  till  they  came  to  the  lock,  and  the 
steersman  steered  the  boat,  so  as  to  carry  it  exactly 
in.  It  seemed  as  if  it  was  going  with  all  its 
force  against  the  gates  at  the  head  of  the  lock. 
In  fact,  Marco  thought  it  must  necessarily  do  so, 
for  he  did  not  see  any  possible  way  to  stop  it.  If 
it  had  been  a  steamboat  it  might  have  been 
stopped  by  reversing  the  wheels,  but  there  were 
no  wheels  to  be  reversed  in  the  case  of  the  packet. 

At  this  instant,  Marco  observed  a  man  standing 
near  the  bows,  at  the  place  where  the  tow-rope  was 
fastened  to  a  sort  of  iron  staple,  of  a  very  curious 
construction.  He  had  noticed  this  staple  before, 
and  wondered  why  it  was  contrived  so  curiously. 
He  did  not  see  why  the  rope  was  not  fastened  to 
a  simple  ring.  Now,  however,  he  saw  the  rea- 
son ;  for  the  man  just  touched  a  spring  with  his 
foot,  and  immediately  the  rope  was  loosed  from 
its  attachment,  and  fell  off  into  the  water  ;  and  as 
the  horses  were  still  going  on,  they  soon  drew  the 


CANAJOHARIE.  63 

rope  out  upon  the  bank,  leaving  the  boat  entirely 
free. 

As  soon  as  the  man  had  liberated  this  rope  in 
this  manner,  Marco  saw  that  he  hastily  caught  up 
another  large  rope,  which  was  lying  coiled  up 
upon  the  bows.  One  end  of  this  rope  was 
fastened  to  a  staple,  in  the  bow  of  the  boat.  The 
staple,  which  the  end  of  the  tow-rope  was  fastened 
to,  was  at  a  little  distance  from  the  bows,  near  the 
side  of  the  boat.  The  man  took  the  end  of  the 
bow-line  and  clambered  up  with  it  upon  the  high 
stone  wall,  which  formed  the  side  of  the  lock ; 
for  by  this  time^  the  packet  was  gliding  along 
smoothly  into  the  lock.  He  ran  forward  with  his 
rope  and  wound  it  twice  round  a  strong  post 
which  was  set  in  the  masonry  in  a  proper  place 
for  this  purpose,  and  so  he  easily  checked  the 
boat,  just  before  it  would  have  come  into  collision 
with  the  gates.  Then,  by  means  of  this  rope,  he 
held  it  in  its  place,  so  near  the  gates  that  the 
water  which  spouted  through  the  crevices,  threw 
its  spray  over  and  upon  the  little  low  deck  which 
was  formed  at  the  bows. 

As  soon  as  the  boat  was  secured  in  this  posi- 
tion, a  man  who  was  standing  upon  the  bank 
went  to  the  stern  of  the  boat,  and  began  to  shut 
two  great  gates  which  were  at  that  end  of  the 
lock.  Marco  had  not  observed  these  gates  before. 
They  had  been  laid  wide  open,  in  order  to  let  the 
packet  go  in ;  and  the  walls  had  been  built  so 
that  the  gates,  when  opened  wide,  fitted  so  exactly 


64 


MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 


into  recesses  in  the  masonry  made  to  receive  them, 
that  Marco  did  not  notice  them  at  all.  But  now 
they  attracted  his  attention  very  particularly,  as 
the  man  was  slowly  swinging  them  to,  by  means 
of  a  long  timber,  which  projected  over  upon  the 
land  side,  and  which  operated  as  a  lever.  "When 
these  gates  were  shut,  Marco  perceived  that  the 
packet  was  closely  shut  in  at  the  bottom  of  a  sort 
of  deep  box,  just  big  enough  to  hold  it,  and  with 
walls  of  solid  masonry  all  around  it.  The  deck 
of  the  packet  was  considerably  below  the  top  of 
the  lock. 

Forester  and  Marco  climbed  up  from  the  deck 
to  the  top  of  the  wall,  and  then  walked  off  upon 
the  bank.  There  was  a  man  just  going  towards 
the  upper  gates.  He  moved  a  long  iron  lever, 
which  was  attached  to  an  axis  that  passed  down 
through  the  stone  work,  and  this  seemed  to  open 
suddenly  a  passage  for  the  water,  down  near  the 
bottom  of  the  gates.  For  they  observed  that 
there  was  immediately  a  great  foaming  and  boil- 
ing under  the  bows  of  the  canal-boat,  as  if  the 
water  was  rushing  furiously  in  from  under  the 
gates.  The  man  moved  another  iron  lever,  and 
afterwards  two  more,  and  then  Marco  could  hear 
and  see  the  water  pour  in  with  great  force  under 
the  bows  of  the  boat. 

Now,  as  these  lower  gates  were  shut,  the  water 
which  was  thus  admitted  through  the  upper  gates, 
from  that  part  of  the  canal  which  was  on  a  higher 
level,  could  not  escape  into  that  part  which  was 


CANAJOHARIE.  65 

lower,  but  remained  in  the  lock ;  and  thus  the 
water  in  the  lock  was  rapidly  rising,  buoying  the 
boat  up  with  it.  The  water  rushed  in,  too,  with 
so  much  force  through  the  opening  in  the  upper 
gates,  that  it  dashed  tumultuously  along  the  sides 
of  the  boat,  and  caused  it  to  oscillate  to  one  side 
and  the  other,  and  to  knock  against  the  sides  of 
the  lock.  This  was  the  agitation  which  Forester 
and  Marco  had  perceived  at  the  time  when  they 
were  passing  through  the  first  lock,  when  they 
were  in  the  cabin. 

After  a  short  time  the  boat  was  raised  quite 
high  in  the  lock,  and  Forester  and  Marco  found- 
that  the  water  was  getting  to  be  nearly  as  high  in 
the  lock  as  it  was  in  the  higher  part  of  the  canal 
above.  When,  at  length,  it  wras  exactly  at  the 
same  level,  the  man  swung  open  the  great  gates, 
at  the  upper  end,  and  then  the  tow-line  was  fast- 
ened to  the  boat  again,  and  the  packet  was  drawn 
along.  A  great  many  of  the  passengers  had  got 
off  when  Forester  and  Marco  did,  and  stood  upon 
the  bank,  watching  the  operation.  They  now 
jumped  on  again,  though  the  boat  was  now 
elevated  so  much  above  its  former  level  that  they 
had  to  jump  up  pretty  high.  They  were  soon  all 
in  their  places,  and  the  boat  glided  away  again  on 
its  voyage. 

"  Now,"  said  Marco,  "  how  are  they  going  to 
get  all  that  water  out  of  the  lock,  so  as  to  let  the 
next  boat  in  ? " 

"  Let  us  wait  a  moment,"  said  Forester,  "  and 
perhaps  we  shall  see."  6^ 


66     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

It  happened  that  just  as  Forester  said  this,  he 
observed  a  line-boat  coming  down  the  canal.  It 
was  very  near,  being  just  at  that  moment  about 
passing  the  packet,  which  was  going  away  from 
the  lock.  The  upper  gates  of-  the  lock  were  of 
course  open,  the  packet  having  just  sailed  out  of 
them,  so  that  the  way  was  open  for  the  line-boat 
to  sail  in.  The  steersman  steered  the  boat  in,  and 
a  man  from  the  bows  of  the  boat  cast  off  the  tow- 
line  by  pressing  the  spring  with  his  foot,  just  as 
had  been  dene  in  the  case  of  the  packet.  He 
then  jumped  off  the  boat  and  secured  the  bows  by 
a  strong  rope,  which  he  wound  once  or  twice 
around  a  post  that  was  near  the  lower  gates. 

The  line-boat  was  now  in  the  lock,  just  as  the 
packet  had  been,  only  it  was  in  a  reversed  posi- 
tion, the  line-boat  having  her  bows  turned  towards 
the  lower  gates,  as  she  was  going  down  the  canal. 
As  soon  as  she  was  secured  in  this  position,  a  man 
on  the  banks  shut  the  great  gates,  at  the  upper  end 
of  the  lock.  As  the  water  was  on  the  same  level 
on  each  side  of  these  gates,  the  gates  moved 
easily  through  it  into  the  position  necessary  for 
closing  the  passage.  The  man  then  went  to  the 
lower  gates,  and  by  means  of  some  long  iron 
levers,  which  were  fixed  there,  similar  to  those 
which  Marco  had  observed  before,  in  connexion 
with  the  upper  gates,  he  opened  a  passage  for  the 
water  through  the  bottom  of  the  lower  gates. 
This  let  the  water  off  from  the  lock  into  the  lower 
canal. 


CANAJOHARIE.  67 

Of  course,  the  surface  of  the  water  in  the  lock 
rapidly  subsided,  and  the  boat  settled  with  it. 
Marco  saw  plainly  that  they  were  going  by  this 
means  to  let  the  line-boat  down  to  the  level  of  the 
canal  below. 

"  There,"  said  Forester,  "  you  see  how  it  is 
done.  When  the  water  is  entirely  down,  they 
will  Qpen  the  lower  gates,  and  let  the  horses  draw 
the  boat  out." 

It  was  as  Forester  had  said.  The  water  sub- 
sided rapidly,  and  the  boat  settled  down  with  it 
until  it  was  on  a  level  with  the  lower  part  of  the 
canal.  The  upper  gates  were  shut  all  the  time, 
so  that  no  water  could  come  in  from  above,  except 
a  little,  which  spouted  through  the  crevices  in  the 
gates.  Then  the  man  opened  the  lower  gates, 
and  the  way  was  open  for  the  line-boat  to  be  drawn 
along  on  its  way. 

The  line-boat  was  somewhat  different  in  its 
structure  from  the  packet-boat.  It  had  one  or  two 
windows  near  the  bows,  and  one  or  two  near  the 
stern,  but  there  were  no  windows  along  the  sides. 
The  reason  was  that  there  was  not  a  cabin  for 
passengers  extending  through  the  whole  length  of 
the  boat,  as  in  the  packet.  For  the  line-boat  was 
designed  to  carry  merchandise,  not  passengers. 
Therefore,  instead  of  a  cabin  in  the  centre  of  the 
boat,  there  was  a  sort  of  hold  to  contain  merchan- 
dise, such  as  boards,  or  staves,  or  barrels  of  flour, 
which  needed  no  windows.  There  were  no 
trunks  upon  the  deck,  but  instead  of  them,  three  or 


68     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

four  rows  of  barrels,  which  Forester  said  he  had 
no  doubt  were  filled  with  flour,  going  to  New 
York.  There  was  a  woman  and  little  girl  sitting 
upon  stools  upon  the  little  low  deck  near  the 
bows.  The  woman  was  knitting.  Forester  said 
he  supposed  they  were  passengers. 

"  Then  they  have  some  passengers  on  board  the 
line-boats,"  said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester;  "  a  few.  It  is  cheaper 
travelling  in  the  line-boats  ;  and  so  some  passen- 
gers go  in  them." 

When  the  line-boat  sailed  away,  Forester  and 
Marco  walked  along  the  canal  towards  the  village 
of  Canajoharie,  which  they  saw  at  a  little  distance 
before  them. 

"  Now  you  see,"  said  Forester,  "  one  reason 
why  they  need  feeders  for  the  canal.  Every  time 
a  boat  goes  up  or  down,  they  have  to  lose  a  lock 
full  of  water." 

"  No,"  said  Marco,  "  they  do  not  lose  it,  they 
only  let  it  go  from  one  part  of  the  canal  to 
another." 

"  Still  they  must  lose  it,  for  there  must  be  some 
place  for  it  to  run  off,  out  of  the  lower  part  of  the 
canal;  and  they  must  also  get  a  supply  some- 
where to  take  its  place  in  the  upper  part." 

"  Why  must  they  let  it  run  off'?"  said  Marco. 

"  If  they  did  not,"  said  Forester,  "  after  a  while 
the  lower  part  of  the  canal  would  get  full  and  run 
over,  and  when  the  water  overflowed,  it  would 
wash  away  the  banks,  and  make  a  breach." 


CANAJ0HAR1E.  69 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco,  "  so  it  would." 

"  So  they  have  places  made  in  the  banks  of  the 
canal,  a  little  lower  than  the  tow-path,  with  an 
edge  formed  of  stone  or  of  timber,  so  that  the 
water  cannot  wear  it  away;  and  they  let  the 
waste  water  run  over  these." 

"  I  should  like  to  see  one,"  said  Marco. 

"  I  saw  one  this  morning,"  said  Forester. 

"  Where  was  I  ?"  asked  Marco. 

"  You  were  in  the  cabin,"  said  Forester. 

"  Why  did  not  you  call  me  to  come  up  and  see 
it  ? "  said  Marco. 

"  Because,  we  had  got  nearly  by  it  before  I  saw 
it,"  replied  Forester ;  "  and  I  knew  that  if  I  went 
to  call  you  we  should  have  passed  it  entirely 
before  you  could  get  up  on  the  deck." 

"  What  sort  of  a  place  was  it  ?"  asked  Marco. 

"  Why,  it  was  a  place,"  replied  Forester, 
"  where  the  bank  of  the  canal  was  made  of 
timbers  instead  of  earth,  and  it  was  a  little  lower 
than  the  rest  of  the  bank,  so  that  the  water  ran 
over  it  all  the  time,  and  fell  down  upon  a  wooden 
platform  below,  and  then  it  ran  off  into  a  brook. 
I  believe  such  a  place  is  called  a  waste  weir." 

Marco  said  that  he  wished  he  could  see  a  waste 
weir  very  much,  and  Forester  said  perhaps  they 
might  come  to  one  on  their  way  to  Canajoharie. 

"  At  any  rate,"  said  Forester,  "  we  will  notice 
the  canal  wherever  we  see  it  until  we  find  one. 
I  presume  there  are  a  great  many  along  the  canal 
at  different  distances  ;  for  it  is  very  important  to 


70     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

keep  the  water  at  about  the  same  level.  So  they 
have  feeders  to  keep  the  water  from  getting  too 
low,  and  waste  weirs  to  prevent  its  rising  too 
high." 

After  this,  Forester  and  Marco  walked  along  a 
few  minutes  in  silence,  and  at  length  Marco  said, 

"  What  are  we  going  to  do,  cousin  Forester, 
when  we  get  to  Canajoharie  ?" 

"  The  first  thing,"  said  Forester,  "  is  to  find  a 
tavern,  and  get  some  breakfast." 

"And  what  next?" 

"  The  next  thing  is  to  find  the  railroad  station, 
and  to  inquire  what  time  the  cars  come  along." 

11  How  do  you  know  that  any  cars  are  coming 
along  ? " 

"  Because,"  said  Forester,  "  I  know  that  the 
train  leaves  Schenectady  every  morning  at  nine 
o'clock,  and  that  it  goes  through  in  six  hours ; 
and  I  see  by  my  memorandum  that  Canajoharie  is 
about  half  way  from  Schenectady  to  Utica  ;  so  I 
presume  that  a  train  will  come  along  here,  about 
twelve  o'clock." 

"  And  how  do  you  know  that  the  railroad  passes 
anywhere  near  here  ? " 

"  Because,"  said  Forester,  "  I  know  that  it 
comes  up  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk.  The  rail- 
road goes  up  on  one  side  of  the  river  and  the  canal 
on  the  other." 

"  Then  how  are  we  going  to  get  across  the 
river?"  asked  Marco. 

"  There  must  be  some  way  to  get  across,"  said 
Forester.     "  Perhaps  there  is  a  bridge." 


CANAJOHARIE.  73 

There  was  a  bridge.  It  soon  came  into  view. 
It  was  covered  with  a  roof,  and  the  sides  were 
boarded  up.  It  looked  rather  old.  There  was  a 
village  *on  the  canal  side,  where  they  then  were, 
and  another  village  on  the  other  side.  They 
could  see  both  villages  as  they  walked  along 
between  the  canal  and  the  river. 

"  Which  village  shall  we  go  to  ?"  said  For 
ester. 

"  I  do  not  know,"  said  Marco. 

"  The  one  on  this  side  looks  the  largest,  but  the- 
one  on  the  other  side  will  be  nearer  the  railroad," 
said  Forester. 

"  Then  let  us  go  to  the  other  side,"  said  Marco. 
"Besides,  I  should  like  to  see  the  bridge." 

Forester  concluded  to  adopt  this  plan,  and  they 
turned  off  towards  the  bridge,  when  they  got 
opposite  to  it.  When  they  got  in,  under  the  roof, 
they  saw  before  them  at  the  opposite  end  that  the 
passage  was  closed  by  a  great  gate.  When  they 
reached  the  gate  a  young  woman  came  out  from  a 
door  in  a  building  attached  to  the  bridge. 

"  Is  there  a  toll  to  pay  ? "  said  Forester. 

"  Yes,  sir ;  two  cents  each,"  said  the  girl. 

Forester  took  out  the  money,  and  while  paying 
me  toll,  he  asked  her  where  the  railroad  was. 

"Right  down  here,  under  the  bridge,"  said  the 
girl. 

So  she  opened  a  small  gate  in  the  large  one, 
and  let  Forester  and  Marco  go  through.     As  soon 
as  they  came  out  into  the  open  air,  they  saw  th& 
•  7 


74 


MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 


iron  lines  of  theTailroad,  laid  along  upon  the  level 
ground,  near  the  shore  of  the  river,  far  below  them. 
There  was  a  flight  of  steps  to  go  down.  Forester 
asked  a  man  who  was  standing  there,  at  what  time 
the  train  would  come  along  from  Schenectady. 
He  told  them  it  would  come  at  half-past  eleven. 
Then  Forester  and  Marco  went  up  the  hill  to  the 
village,  where  they  stopped  at  a  tavern,  and  got  a 
good  breakfast. 


■ 


■ 


CHAPTER  VI. 
HONESTY. 

After  Forester  and  Marco  had  finished  their 
breakfast,  they  rambled  about  for  a  time  to  see  the 
village  of  Canajoharie.  They  were  very  much 
interested  in  examining  some  stone  arches  on  the 
canal  side  of  the  river.  These  arches  were  evi- 
dently part  of  an  unfinished  work,  which  was 
then  in  process  of  building,  though  Forester 
could  not  tell  exactly  what  the  work  was. 

At  one  place,  Marco  and  Forester  saw  a  woman 
weeding  in  a  garden.  They  stopped  and  looked 
over  the  fence.  The  corn  in  this  garden  was 
much  higher  than  the  other  corn  which  Marco 
and  Forester  'had  seen  along  the  canal ;  and  as 
Forester  thought  the  woman  seemed  pleased  to 
have  them  notice  her  garden,  he  said  to  her, 
"  Your  corn  has  grown  very  well." 

The  woman  looked  up  and  smiled,  and  said 
something  in  reply ;  but  neither  Forester  nor 
Marco  could  understand  her.  It  seemed  to  be 
only  a  single*  Word  that  she  spoke,  but  they  could 
not  understand  what  the  word  was  ;  so,  after  look- 
ing at  the  garden  a  minute  or  two  longer,  they 
walked  on. 


76  MARCO    PAUL   ON    THE    ERIE    CANAL. 

They  came,  a  moment  afterwards,  to  the  house 
to  which  the  garden  belonged.  There  was  a  little 
shop  in  one  corner  of  the  house ;  over  the  door 
was  a  sign,  with  a  boot  and  a  shoe  painted  upon 
it,  and  also  some  words  which  Forester  thought 
were  Dutch  or  German. 

"  Ah  ! "  said  Forester,  "  I  presume  that  woman 
is  a  German,  and  dees  not  understand  English ; 
and  so  she  did  not  know  what  I  said  when  I 
spoke  to  her.  I  recollect  now  that  I  have  heard 
that  there  are  a  great  many  Germans  in  the  val- 
ley of  the  Mohawk,  and  that  some  of  these  green 
meadows  are  called  German  flats." 

Forester  and  Marco  walked  along,  and  being  at 
length  tired  of  rambling,  they  concluded  to  go  to 
the  railroad  station,  and  to  wait  there  until  the 
cars  should  come.  They  accordingly  went  down 
the  stairs  at  the  end  of  the  bridge,  to  the  broad 
and  level  area,  which  extended  up  and  down  the 
river,  and  under  the  end  of  the  bridge,  and  on 
which  the  tracks  of  the  railway  were  laid. 

There  were  three  or  four  tracks  at  this  place, 
as  is  usual  at  stopping  places  on  railroads.  This 
made  the  road  very  wide.  On  the  side  opposite 
to  the  river,  the  land  rose  abruptly  towards  the 
village.  On  the  other  side  there  was  a  narrow 
space  of  level  land,  and  then  there  was  a  rocky 
descent  down  towards  the  water.  On  this  narrow 
space  Avas  a  small  building,  with  a  piazza  before 
it.  There  wTas  a  room  within  to  accommodate 
passengers  wThile  waiting  for  the  trains. 


HONESTY.  77 

Forester  and  Marco  had  just  finished  examining 
this  locality,  when  suddenly  they  heard  the  noise 
of  an  engine  approaching.  It  was  coming  down 
the  road,  and  presently  it  appeared  with  the  train 
which  it  was  drawing,  under  the  hridge  ;  for  the 
office  where  Forester  and  Marco  were  standing 
was  on  the  lower  side  of  the  bridge.  This  train 
consisted  of  such  cars  as  are  used  by  workmen 
along  the  road.  They  looked  like  square  carts  on 
railroad  wheels,  only  instead  of  being  open 
behind,  like  a  farmer's  cart,  each  one  was  open  at 
the  side.  There  was  a  workman  seated  upon 
each  one  of  these  cars,  at  the  open  side,  with  his 
feet  hanging  down  between  the  wheels.  This 
train  passed  rapidly  by  down  the  road,  and  was 
soon  out  of  sight. 

Just  at  this  time,  Marco  happened  to  observe  a 
small  sail-boat  with  some  boys  in  it,  out  upon  the 
river.  While  he  was  looking  at  it,  two  other 
boys  came  down  the  railroad,  under  the  bridge, 
and  when  they  got  to  the  corner  of  the  office 
where  Forester  and-  Marco  were  standing,  they 
saw  it  too.  One  of  these  boys  was  much  smaller 
than  the  other,  and  wore  a  straw  hat. 

"  See,"  said  the  small  boy,  "  there  are  some 
fellows  out  there  that  have  got  a  boat." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  other  boy ;  "  let's  go  and  have  a 
sail  with  them." 

"  They  won't  let  us  get  in,"  said  the  small  boy. 

The  boys  looked  at  the  boat  a  minute  or  two  in 
silence,  and  then  thev  crept  down  the  bank,  near 
7* 


78      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

some  bushes,  where  they  could  see  it  better. 
Still,  they  were  not  so  far  off  as  to  prevent  Marco 
and  Forester  from  hearing  their  conversation. 

"I'll  tell  you  what  we'll  do,"  said  the  large 
boy ;  "  we  '11  cut  some  poles  here  in  the  bushes, 
and  go  down  to  the  bank,  opposite  to  where  they 
are,  and  call  out  to  them  to  let  us  come  on  board ; 
and  then  you  know  they'll  see  our  poles,  and 
think  they  are  fishing  poles.  Then  they'll  come 
and  take  us  on  board,  because  they  '11  want  to  see 
us  fish." 

"  Well,"  said  the  small  boy,  "  I  will  lend  you 
my  knife." 

So  he  took  out  his  knife,  and  the  boys  both  went 
into  the  bushes. 

In  a  few  minutes  they  came  out  again,  with 
their  poles. 

"  Where  is  the  boat  ?"  said  the  small  boy. 

"  I  see  it,"  said  the  other. 

"  They  have  gone  down  the  river,"  said  the 
small  boy.  "  We  will  go  along  down  till  we  get 
opposite  to  them." 

So  the  boys  walked  off,  with  their  poles  over 
their  shoulders. 

"  Let  us  go  too."  said  Marco,  "  and  see  if  they 
come  ashore." 

"  No,"  said  Forester,  u  we  will  go  up  the  steps 
to  the  bridge,  and  then  we  can  see." 

When  Marco  and  Forester  got  pretty  near  the 
top  of  the  stairs  they  could  see  the  boat  very  dis- 
tinctly, and  also  the  two  boys  with  their  poles, 


HONESTY.  79 

who  were  just  going  down  the  bank  to  the  edge 
of  the  water.  They  could  also  hear  their  voices, 
though  they  could  not  distinguish  what  was  said. 

However,  Marco  soon  perceived  that  the  cun- 
ning device  of  the  two  boys  upon  the  shore  was 
successful ;  for  the  boat  very  soon  turned  in,  and 
proceeded'  rapidly  towards  the  shore. 

"  That  was  a  good  way,"  said  Marco,  "  to  make 
the  boys  let  them  get  into  their  boat." 

"  Not  very,"  said  Forester. 

"  Why,  I  think  it  was  very  ingenious,  indeed," 
said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester,  "  it  was  ingenious ;  but 
an  ingenious  plan  is  not  always  a  good  plan." 

"  Why  was  n't  this  a  good  plan  ? "  said  Marco. 

"  Why,  those  boys,"  said  Forester, "  deceived  the 
others,  and  now  they  will  not  be  trusted  another 
time.  They  have  got  a  sail,  but  they  have  lost 
their  character  ;  and  to  lose  one's  character,  for 
the  sake  of  a  sail  on  a  river  in  a  sail-boat,  is  a 
very  bad  bargain.  It  is  very  seldom  wise  to 
attempt  to  gain  anything  by  deception." 

"  It  is  never  wise,  is  it  ?  "  said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester. 

"How?"  said  Marco. 

"  Why  it  is  wise,"  said  Forester,  "  to  put  a 
chalk  egg  under  a  hen,  for  a  nest  egg,  and  that  is 
deception  ;  it  is  deceiving  the  hen." 

"  O,  I  didn't  mean  that,"  said  Marco. 

"  No  ;  I  know  you  did  not  mean  that,  but  still, 
if  I  had  said  it  was  never  right  to  attempt  to  gain 


80      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

anything  by  deception,  it  would  have  included 
that.  Whenever  we  say  anything  in  a  sweeping 
and  unqualified  manner,  we  are  in  great  danger  of 
including  something  which  we  don't  intend." 

"  But,"  said  Marco,  "  it  is  never  right  to  deceive 
men  or  hoys,  is  what  I  mean." 

"Very  well,"  said  Forester,  "I  don't  dispute 
that." 

"  And  yet,  you  deceived  me  once,"  said  Marco. 

"  When  ?"  asked  his  cousin. 

14  Why,  when  you  took  me  to  the  dentist's  to 
have  my  tooth  taken  out,  without  letting  me  know 
where  I  was  going." 

Marco  referred  to  an  incident  which  occurred 
just  before  he  left  the  city  of  New  York  with 
Forester,  when  Forester  took  him  to  the  dentist's 
without  letting  him  know  where  he  was  going 
until  he  actually  entered  the  dentist's  room. 

"  Do  you  think  I  deceived  you  then  ? "  asked 
Forester. 

■  Why,  yes," — said  Marco  ;  "  did  n't  you  ?  " 

"  We  must  make  a  distinction,"  said  Forester, 
"  between  deception  and  concealment.  I  con- 
cealed from  you  that  we  were  going  to  a  dentist's, 
but  did  I  do  anything  positively  to  deceive  you  ?  " 

"  Why,  no,"  said  Marco.  "  I  do  n't  know  that 
you  did." 

"  I  am  very  unwilling  to  resort  even  to  conceal- 
ment, in  the  government  of  a  pupil,"  said  Forester  ; 
"  but  I  should  think  deception  absolutely  wrong. 
I  do  n't  think  I  shall  ever  attempt  to  deceive  you ; 
and  T  shall  never  attempt  to  conceal  anything 


HONESTY.  81 

from  you,  in  such  a  way  as  I  did  then,  unless 
it  is  absolutely  necessary.  I  should  have  pre- 
ferred some  other  mode,  if  it  had  been  possible 
to  adopt  any  other." 

"  What  other  mode  ?"  asked  Marco. 

"  There  are  two  plans  which  I  should  have 
preferred,"  replied  Forester.  "  The  best  plan  of 
all  would  have  been  for  you  to  have  told  your 
mother  that  you  would  go  at  any  time,  of  your 
own  accord,  and  have  the  tooth  extracted.  But 
that  you  would  not  do." 

"  And  what  would  have  been  the  next  best 
plan  ? "  said  Marco. 

"  The  next  best  plan  would  have  been,"  said 
Forester,  "  for  me  to  have  told  you  frankly  that 
you  must  go  with  me  to  the  dentist's,  even  if  you 
were  unwilling,  and  then  to  have  taken  you  there 
in  an  open  manner." 

"  And  why  did  not  you  adopt  that  plan  ? "  asked 
Marco. 

"  Because,"  replied  Forester,  "  I  was  afraid  to 
run  the  risk  of  it.  I  did  not  know  how  far  jovl 
would  carry  your  opposition.  I  thought  that  per- 
haps you  would  absolutely  refuse  to  go,  or  if  I 
took  you  there  in  a  carriage,  refuse  to  get  out,  and 
so  compel  me  to  have  you  taken  out  by  force. 
That  would  have  been  exceedingly  unpleasant,  you 
know.  So  I  was  compelled  to  conceal  from  you 
where  I  was  going ;  but  I  was  very  careful  not  to 
do  anything  to  deceive  you  about  it.  That  would 
have  been  more  than  the  trouble  of  taking  you 
out  of  the  carriage  by  force." 


82      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

"Why?"  said  Marco. 

"  Because,"  replied  Forester,  "when  you  found 
that  I  deceived  you,  you  would  have  distrusted  me 
another  time,  and  I  am  very  unwilling  that  you 
should  distrust  me.  I  think  it  probable  that  you 
will  sometimes  attempt  to  deceive  me  ;  but  I  do  n't 
think  that  I  shall  ever  do  anything  to  deceive  you. 
If  that  should  be  so,  you  will  soon  get  into  the 
habit  of  placing  confidence  in  me,  but  I  shall  lose 
confidence  in  you." 

"  You  do  n't  seem  to  have  much  confidence  in 
me  now,"  said  Marco,  "  if  you  think  beforehand 
that  I  shall  try  to  deceive  you." 

Forester  smiled. 

"  I  have  heard,"  said  Marco,  "  that  persons 
ought  to  be  thought  innocent  until  they  are 
proved  guilty." 

"  No,"  said  Forester,  "  that  is  not  exactly  the 
rule." 

"  What  is  the  rule,  then  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  People  ought  to  be  treated  as  if  they  were 
innocent,"  replied  Forester,  "  until  they  are 
proved  guilty." 

"  Well,"  rejoined  Marco,  "  is  not  that  the  same 
thing?" 

"  No,"  said  Forester.  "  There  is  a  great  differ- 
ence between  believing  that  people  are  innocent, 
and  treating  them  as  if  they  are  innocent.  Per- 
sons ought  not  to  be  punished  or  censured  until 
they  are  proved  to  have  done  wrong, — but  we 
may   suspect   them,    or    even    believe    they   are 


HONESTY.  83 

guilty,  when  we  have  reason  to  believe  it,  even 
without  absolute  proof.  Now  I  have  considerable 
reason  to  believe  that  you  are  not  a  perfectly 
honest  boy.  At  the  same  time  I  have  no  positive 
proof  of  your  dishonesty  in  any  case  that  has 
occurred  since  you  came  under  my  care,  and 
therefore  I  treat  you  as  if  you  were  innocent,  do  I 
not?" 

"  Yes,  sir,"  replied  Marco. 

"  But  then,"  continued  Forester,  "  it  would  be 
very  foolish  for  me  to  believe  that  you  are  honest, 
when  I  have  no  reason  for  believing  it.  That 
would  be  only  to  expose  myself  to  be  deceived." 

Marco  did  not  answer. 

"  Your  mother  believes  that  you  are  an  honest 
boy,  doesn't  she  ?"  asked  Forester. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Marco.     "  I  suppose  she  does." 

"  And  is  n't  she  exposed  to  be  often  deceived  by 
you  on  that  account  ?  " 

Marco  did  not  answer. 

"  Mothers  are  very  unwilling  to  believe  that 
their  sons  can  deceive  them.  That  is  one  reason 
why  it  is  particularly  wrong  for  a  boy  to  attempt 
to  deceive  his  mother.  It  is  making  a  very 
ungrateful  return  for  her  kindness  and  confi- 
dence. 

"  Besides,"  continued  Forester,  after  a  short 
pause,  "  it  is  very  unwise  to  attempt  to  gain  any- 
thing by  any  false  pretences ;  for  such  a  course 
soon  destroys  one's  character.  And  a  good  char- 
acter  will   help  a   boy   get  a  great  many  more 


84      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

enjoyments  than  any  cunning.  Cunning  will 
last  a  little  while,  hut  soon  exhausts  itself;  hut 
character  will  last  always.  If  you  could  establish 
a  good  character  with  me,  so  that  I  could  trust  you 
implicitly,  I  should  be  able  to  allow  you  a  much 
greater  degree  of  liberty  than  I  could  if  I  sus- 
pected your  honesty.  I  had  a  boy  with  me  once 
who  lost  his  character  by  one  single  act  of  de- 
ception." 

"  What  was  it  ?"  asked  Marco. 

"  Why,  he  knew  another  boy,  who  was  going 
one  afternoon  into  the  woods  a  gunning.  It  was 
in  raspberry  time.  There  are  a  great  many 
raspberries  in  the  pastures  and  woods  in  Ver- 
mont." 

"  Is  it  raspberry  time  }ret,  in  Vermont  ? "  asked 
Marco. 

"  No,"  replied  Forester.  "  Raspberry  time  will 
not  come  this  month  yet.  Now  Charles,"  con- 
tinued Forester, 

"  Was  the  boy's  name  Charles  ?"  said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Forester,  "  and  he  wanted  to  go 
into  the  woods  with  this  boy  to  see  him  shoot 
birds.  He  also  wanted  to  fire  the  gun  himself 
once  or  twice,  if  the  boy  that  had  the  gun  would 
let  him." 

"  What  was  the  boy's  name  that  had  the  gun  ?" 
asked  Marco. 

"  Jeremiah,"  replied  Forester.  "  So  Charles 
came  to  me  and  asked  me  if  he  might  go  a  rasp- 
berrying  with  Jeremiah.     I  told  him,  yes.     And 


HONESTY.  85 

afterwards  I  found  that  he  had  been  a  gun- 
ning." 

"  Is  there  any  harm  in  going  a  gunning  ? " 
asked  Marco. 

"  It  is  too  dangerous  an  amusement  for  boys," 
said  Forester.  "  Charles  knew  very  well  that  I 
should  not  have  let  him  go,  if  I  had  known  that 
there  was  to  be  a  gun  in  the  case." 

"  It  seems  to  me  that  that  was  concealment,  and 
not  deception,"  said  Marco. 

"  It  was  pretty  near  the  line  between  the  two," 
replied  Forester ;  "  and  yet  I  think  it  was  a 
decided  case  of  deception.  For  when  he  asked 
me  to  let  him  go  a  raspberrying,  he  meant  to  lead 
me  to  suppose  that  that  was  really  the  object  of 
the  excursion." 

"  How  did  you  find  out  that  they  went  a  gun- 
ning ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  Why,  first,"  said  Forester,  «  I  noticed  some- 
thing in  his  air  and  manner  when  he  asked  me  to 
let  him  go,  which  did  not  appear  quite  frank  arid 
open.  I  did  not  pay  particular  attention  to  it  at  the 
time,  but  I  recollected  it  a  few  minutes  afterwards. 
Then  I  thought  that  I  would  go  after  him,  at  a 
distance,  so  as  to  keep  out  of  his  sight,  and  yet 
see  where  he  and  Jeremiah  would  go,  and  what 
they  would  do." 

"  Well,"  said  Marco,  "  and  did  you  do  it  ? " 

"  No,"  replied  Forester;  "  on  second  thoughts 
I  concluded  that  I  would  not  resort  to  any  secret 
means  to  discover  the  truth,  but  would  proceed  in 
8 


8b      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

a  frank  and  open  manner.  So  I  did  nothing 
about  it  till  he  came  home  that  night,  and  then  I 
took  him  with  me  to  walk  in  the  garden,  and 
there  I  told  him  that  I  had  some  reason  to  suspect 
that  he  had  not  been  quite  honest  with  me,  but 
that  he  had  had  some  other  object  in  view  that 
afternoon,  in  going  away  with  Jeremiab,  than  to 
get  raspberries." 

"  And  what  did  he  say  ?  n  asked  Marco. 

"Why,  he  held  down  his  head  and  looked 
guilty,  and  then  presently  said  that  he  had  been  a 
gunning." 

Here  there  was  a  pause,  during  which  Marco 
seemed  to  be  seriously  reflecting  on  what  he  had 
heard. 

"  It  is  always  best  to  be  honest,"  said  Forester ; 
"  and  I  intend  on  my  part  always  to  be  honest 
with  you.  Whether  you  will  always  be  honest 
with  me  or  not,  time  will  show." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   PASS  OF   THE  MOHAWK. 

While  Marco  and  Forester  were  silting  thus 
upon  the  stairs  engaged  in  conversation,  they 
suddenly  heard  the  sound  of  a  locomotive  coming 
up  the  road. 

"  There  come  the  cars,"  said  Marco. 

"  It  sounds  like  a  locomotive,"  said  Forester ; 
"but  it  cannot  be  time  yet  for  the  train  from  Sche- 
nectady." 

'*  It  is  coming  at  any  rate,  if  it  is  n't  time,"  said 
Marco  ;  "  I  can  see  it  through  the  trees." 

"  It' is  a  freight  train,"  said  Forester. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  trains  of  cars  drawn  by 
locomotives  upon  railroads,  one  to  carry  passen- 
gers and  the  other  merchandise,  which  is  called 
in  such  cases  freight.  Forester  thought,  from 
the  appearance  of  this  train,  that  it  was  a  freight 
train. 

"  No,"  said  Marco,  "  I  know  what  it  is  now  ; 
it  is  that  train  which  went  down  a  few  minutes 
ago,  with  workmen  in  each  car.  See,  they  have 
got  the  cars  all  filled  with  stones." 
<vIt  was  as  Marco  said.  That  train  had  gone 
down  the  road  a  little  way  after  a  load  of  stones. 


88      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

and  now  they  were  returning.  They  were  going 
to  take  them  up  to  a  place  where  they  wanted  to 
build  an  embankment.  They  advanced  swiftly 
along  the  road,  and  soon  passed  under  the  bridge 
and  disappeared.  Each  car  was  filled  with  stones, 
and  had  also  a  workman  sitting  on  the  edge  of  it. 

Marco  and  Forester  waited  here  about  half  an 
hour  longer,  and-  then,  as  the  time  for  the  arrival 
of  the  great  passenger  train  drew  nigh,  various 
persons  began  to  collect  about  the  station.  Some 
came  to  see  the  cars  arrive  and  depart;  some 
came  to  go  in  them,  and  others  were  persons  be- 
longing to  the  road,  who  came  to  render  any 
assistance  which  might  be  needed. 

At  length  the  train  appeared  in  sight  at  a 
distance  down  the  river.  The  smoke  of  the  loco- 
motive was  first  seen  through  the  trees.  Then 
the  long  line  of  windows  in  the  sides  of  the  cars 
came  gliding  into  the  view.  As  the  train  ap- 
proached, it  seemed  to  advance  more  and  more 
rapidly,  with  a  thundering  noise  ;  but  it  slackened 
its  speed  when  it  had  got  pretty  near  the  station, 
and  at  length  came  to  a  stand  with  the  passenger 
cars  exactly  opposite  to  the  building. 

One  of  the  cars  was  marked  over  the  door  with 
the  words  Way  Passengers.  Forester  and  Marco 
perceived  at  once  that  this  was  the  car  for  them. 
So  they  got  into  it,  and  some  of  the  other  persons 
who  had  been  waiting  for  the  cars  at  the  station 
with  them,  got  in  too. 

In  a  very  few  moments  the  conductor,  standing 


THE    PASS    OF    THE    MOHAWK.  89 

upon  the  platform,  by  the  side  of  the  train,  called 
out  in  a  loud  voice,  "  All  aboard  !  "  and  immedi- 
ately afterwards  he  gave  a  signal  to  the  engineer ; 
and  then  the  engineer  moved  the  iron  lever  which 
admitted  the  steam  into  the  cylinder,  and  thus  set 
the  locomotive  and  the  whole  train  in  motion. 
The  car  which  Forester  and  Marco  Avere  in, 
started  with  a  jerk,  and  then  trundled  on,  going 
gradually  more  and  more  swiftly,  until  it  attained 
a  great  speed. 

Forester  and  Marco  sat  near  a  window  on  the 
side  of  the  car  nearest  to  the  river;  and  as  they 
were  whirled  swiftly  along  upon  the  bank  of  it, 
they  had  beautiful  views  of  the  water  and  of  the 
green  fields,  and  sometimes  of  villages  beyond. 

At  one  time  Marco's  attention  was  suddenly 
arrested  at  the  sight  of  what  seemed  to  be  a  long 
low  building,  with  a  row  of  windows  in  the  side 
of  it,  which  seemed  to  be  moving.  It  was  gliding 
smoothly  along  through  a  green  field,  among  some 
trees,  on  the  other  side  of  the  river. 

"  Why,  Forester, — what  is  that  ? "  said  Marco. 

But  before  Forester  had  time  to  answer  the 
question,  and  in  fact  almost  before  Marco  had  spo- 
ken the  words,  he  perceived  that  what  he  saw  was 
a  canal-boat,  and  that,  instead  of  being  in  a  field, 
as  he  had  at  first  supposed,  it  must  in  reality  be 
in  the  canal.  He  could  not  see  the  canal,  however. 
The  bank  of  the  canal,  on  the  side  towards  him, 
was  of  course  a  little  higher  than  the  water,  and 
it  consequently  concealed  the  water  from  his  view. 


90      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

"  Perhaps  I  can  find  the  horses,"  said  Marco  to 
himself. 

So  he  looked  along  in  the  direction  towards 
which  the  boat  was  going,  and  there  he  saw, 
at  some  distance  before  it,  two  horses  walking 
slowly  along.  There  was  a  boy  mounted  upon 
one  of  them.  These  horses  were  walking  upon 
the  tow-path,  which  was  on  the  top  of  the  bank  of 
the  canal.  The  tow-path  was  on  the  side  of  the 
canal  towards  Marco,  so  that  he  could  see  the 
horses  very  plainly.  Marco  watched  them  until 
they  disappeared  behind  some  trees,  and  a  moment 
afterwards  the  boat  disappeared  too. 

After  this,  Marco  found  that  he  could  trace  the 
course  of  the  canal  on  the  other  side  of  the  river, 
as  he  sat  at  his  window  in  the  car,  very  well,  by 
means  of  the  tow-path  which  continued  in  view 
for  a  long  time.  He  saw  several  boats  too,  going 
and  coming,  with  the  horses  belonging  to  each  one 
at  a  short  distance  before  it.  Once  a  packet-boat 
came  along.  There  were  a  great  many  men 
standing  upon  the  deck.  Marco  thought  it  was  a 
very  singular  spectacle  to  see  a  company  of  men 
gliding  so  smoothly  along  through  a  field,  without 
moving  their  feet. 

They  saw  the  turnpike  road  too,  which  passes 
up  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  together  with  the 
railroad,  the  river,  and  the  canal.  At  one  place 
the  railroad  came  very  near  the  turnpike,  and  at 
that  place  there  was  a  man  coming  along  with  a 
wagon  drawn  by  two  horses.     The  horses  were 


THE    PASS    OF   THE    MOHAWK.  91 

afraid  of  the  locomotive  and  the  train.  The 
man  stopped  them,  jumped  off  the  wagon,  and 
went  to  hold  their  heads.  They  looked  very 
much  frightened,  but  the  man  succeeded  in  hold- 
ing- them  still  until  the  train  had  gone  by. 

Presently  after  this,  Marco's  attention  was 
arrested  by  a  peculiar  sort  of  sound,  half  way 
between  a  hiss  and  a  whistle,  which  seemed  to 
come  from  the  engine.  At  the  same  moment,  he 
could  perceive  that  the  train  was  slackening  its 
speed. 

"  What 's  the  matter  now  ? "  said  Marco. 

"  Perhaps  we  have  come  to  a  stopping  place  ;" 
replied  Forester. 

But  the  train  did  not  stop,  though  it  continued 
to  go  slowly,  and  every  now  and  then  Marco 
could  hear  the  strange  whistling  sound  from  the 
engine. 

"  I  '11  look  out  and  see  what 's  the  matter,"  said 
Marco. 

"  Be  very  careful,"  said  Forester,  "  and  do  not 
put  your  head  out  very  far." 

Marco  was  sitting  on  the  back  seat  of  the  car, 
near  the  window,  and  Forester  on  the  front  seat, 
opposite  to  him.  So  that  if  Marco  looked  out  he 
could  see  on  before  the  train,  while  Forester's  face 
was  turned  the  other  way,  so  that  he  could  only 
see  the  road  behind  them. 

"I  see  what  the  difficulty  "is,"  said  Marco. 

"  What  is  it  ?"  rejoined  Forester. 

"  A  cow,"  said  Marco. 


92      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

"  A  cow?"  repeated  Forester. 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco  ;  "  there  is  a  cow  running 
along  by  the  side  of  the  road.  I  wonder  he  does 
not  whip  up  and  drive  right  by  her." 

"That  would  be  dangerous,"  said  Forester; 
"  for  the  cow  might  just  at  that  moment  run 
across  the  road,  and  then  the  locomotive  would  run 
over  her." 

"  Well,"  said  Marco,  "  that  would  be  just  good 
enough  for  her.  She  has  no  business  to  be  here, 
in  the  way." 

"  I  don't  think  that  she  is  to  blame,"  said  For- 
ester. "  Probably  her  owner  turned  her  out 
here,  to  graze  along  the  sides  of  the  railroad." 

"  Then  it  is  her  owner  that  ought  to  be  run 
over,"  said  Marco. 

"No,"  said  Forester;  "I  don't  think  he  de- 
serves so  severe  a  punishment.  Perhaps  he  is 
a  poor  man,  and  has  no  other  pasture  for  his  cow." 

Just  at  this  moment  both  Forester  and  Marco 
perceived  that  the  train  had  started  on,  and  was 
beginning  to  go  at  full  speed  again.  At  the  same 
instant  he  saw  the  poor  cow  standing  by  the  side 
of  the  road,  crowding  herself  up  close  to  the  wall, 
as  the  train  swept  swiftly  by.  She  held  her  head 
over  the  wall,  and  looked  this  way  and  that,  appa- 
rently very  much  frightened. 

"  He  had  to  manage  very  carefully  to  get  by," 
said  Forester.  "  A  great  many  persons  would 
have  got  out  of  patience,  after  trying  a  few  minutes 
to  get  by  the  cow,  and  then  would  have  gone  on 
recklessly." 


THE    PASS    OF    THE    MOHAWK.  »J 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco  ;  "  I  should." 

"  I  think  it  very  likely  ;  and  therefore  you 
would  not  be  a  suitable  person  to  have  charge  of 
a  train  of  cars.  You  would  do  perhaps  to  collect 
the  fares,  but  it  would  not  be  safe  to  trust  you 
with  the  guidance  of  the  locomotive." 

"  Well,"  said  Marco,  "  if  I  were  obliged  to  go  in 
a  railroad  train  for  a  living,  I  would  as  lief  collect 
the  fares  as  guide  the  locomotive." 

"  Only  you  would  get  better  pay,  perhaps,  for 
taking  charge  of  the  locomotive,"  replied  For- 
ester. ' 

"Why?"  asked  Marco. 

"  Because,"  said  Forester,  "  it  requires  patience 
and  skill  and  steadiness  of  mind.  Those  employ- 
ments which  require  high  mental  qualifications 
are  always  better  paid  than  others.  There  is 
great  responsibility  attached  to  them  usually. 
For  instance,  the  running  over  of  a  cow  might 
cost  the  owners  of  a  railroad  thousands  of  dol- 
lars." 

"  0,  cousin  Forester  ! "  said  Marco. 

"  Certainly,"  said  Forester ;  "  for  it  is  very 
probable  that  it  would  run  the  train  off  the  track." 

"  Well,  and  what  then  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  Why,  it  is  very  likely  it  would  break  the 
engine,  and  it  might  cost  a  thousand  dollars  to 
repair  it.  Besides,  some  of  the  passengers  might 
get  their  limbs  broken,  and  so  the  company  would 
have  to  pay  damages." 

"  Do  the  •  company  have  to  pay  when  anybody 
gets  hurt?"  asked  Marco. 


94      MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

'*  Yes,"  replied  Forester,  "  if  the  damage  is 
occasioned  by  their  fault." 

"  But  it  would  net  be  by  their  fault,"  said 
Marco ;  "  it  would  only  be  the  fault  of  the  engine 
man." 

"  Yes,  but  the  engine  man  is  their  agent. 
They  choose  him  and  employ  him,  and  commit 
the  engine  and  the  lives  of  all  the  passengers  to 
his  care  ;  and  so  they  take  the  responsibility  of 
investing  him  with  power,  and  if  he  is  unfakhful 
or  careless,  they  must  pay  the  damage." 

"  I  should  think  that  the  engine  man  ought  to 
pay  the  damage  himself,"  said  Marco. 

"  He  ought,"  replied  Forester ;  "  that  is,  he  is 
bound  to  the  company  to  pay  back  to  them  all 
that  they  pay  on  account  of  his  carelessness., 
When  any  damage  is  done,  the  company  must  first 
make  it  good  to  the  person  who  suffers.  Then 
they  may  make  the  agent  that  did  the  mischief  pay 
them,  if  he  has  got  money  enough.  But  gen- 
erally he  has  not  got  any  money,  and  so  they  are 
very  careful  to  employ  only  discreet  and  faithful 
men." 

While  Marco  and  Forester  had  been  engaged 
in  this  and  in  similar  conversation,  the  engine  had 
been  rapidly  conveying  them  up  the  valley. 
They  stopped  once  at  a  station  to  let  some  way 
passengers  get  out,  and  to  take  in  others.  At 
length  they  perceived  that  the  valley  through 
which  they  had  been  travelling  for  so  many  miles 
was  beginning  to  grow  very  narrow.     The  moun- 


THE    PASS    OF    THE    MOHAWK.  95 

tains  on  each  side  grew  more  lofty,  and  they 
approached  nearer  to  the  bed  of  the  river,  leaving 
only  a  contracted  passage  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
in  width  between  rocky  precipices.  They  were 
beginning  to  enter  the  Pass  of  the  Mohawk. 

For  there  is  a  place  here  called  the  Pass  of  the 
Mohawk.  It  is  where  the  river  flows  through  a 
narrow  passage  in  the  mountains,  with  extensive 
ledges  of  rock  and  lofty  cliffs  on  either  hand.  As 
the  train  of  cars  advanced  up  this  defile,  Forester 
and  Marco  perceived  that  the  mountainous  ranges 
approached  nearer  and  nearer,  until  the  river,  the 
turnpike,  the  railroad  and  the  canal  were  crowded 
close  together ;  and  Marco  could  look  down  upon 
them  from  the  window  of  the  car,  running  side 
by  side,  and  hemmed  in  on  either  hand  by  preci- 
pices of  ragged  rocks. 

The  track  for  the  rails  was,  in  fact,  for  a  long 
distance  cut  out  of  the  rocks,  there  being  no  room 
for  it  on  the  level  land  near  the  river.  Next  to 
the  railroad  at  this  place  was  the  turnpike,  and 
close  beyond  the  turnpike  was  the  river,  with  only 
a  narrow  gravelly  bank  between.  Then,  very 
near  to  the  bank  of  the  river,  on  the  other  side, 
was  the  canal,  with  barely  room  for  the  tow-path 
between  them ;  and  beyond  the  canal  a  perpen- 
dicular wall  of  ragged  rocks  arose,  with  high 
mountains  covered  with  evergreen  forests  beyond. 

The  water  in  the  river  did  not  look  calm  and 
deep,  as  it  had  done  among  the  meadows  below. 
[t  was  noisy  and  shallow,  and  it  came  tumbling 


96     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

along  over  a  rocky  bed.  Marco  asked  Forester 
if  he  thought  it  would  be  a  good  place  to  catch 
trout,  on  some  rocks  which  he  pointed  out.  But 
Forester  did  not  know. 

In  the  meantime,  the  railroad  turned  and  twisted 
up  a  winding  ascent,  cut  out  in  the  rock,  crowding 
harder  and  harder  upon  the  turnpike  which  was 
between  it  and  the  river.  At  length  the  turnpike 
had  to  turn  short  to  the  right  and  run  under  the 
railroad,  to  get  out  of  the  way.  After  this  the 
railroad  kept  along  close  to  the  edge  of  the  water, 
until  a  large  village  came  suddenly  into  view. 
It  lay  upon  both  sides  of  the  river  directly  before 
them. 

"  This  must  be  Little  Falls,''  said  Forester. 

"  How  do  you  know  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  Why,  it  is  about  time  for  us  to  get  to  Little 
Falls,"  said  Forester  in  reply ;  "  and,  besides,  I 
know  that  Little  Falls  is  in  just  such  a  situa- 
tion." 

The  train  rolled  slowly  into  the  village,  and 
came  to  a  stand  at  a  depot  opposite  to  a  large 
hotel.  The  building  was  called  the  Railroad 
Hotel.  As  soon  as  the  cars  ceased  to  move,  a 
young  man  came  out  from  the  hotel  and  passed 
*  along  to  all  the  cars,  opening  the  doors  and  saying 
at  each  car, — "  They  stop  here  ten  minutes." 
This  was  to  let  the  company  within  the  cars  know 
that  there  would  be  time,  if  they  wished,  to  get 
out  and  take  some  refreshment. 

Accordingly,  the  gentlemen  began  to  come  out 


THE    PASS    OF    THE    MOHAWK.  97 

in  great  numbers  from  all  the  cars,  and  to  hasten 
across  a  broad  gravelled  space  by  the  road-side, 
to  the  hotel.     Forester  and  Marco  followed  them. 

There  was  a  piazza  extending  along  the  whole 
front  of  the  house,  with  several  doors  leading 
frcm  it  into  a  large  hall.  Forester  and  Marco 
entered  with  the  rest.  They  found  a  long  table 
spread  in  the  hall.  It  extended  through  almost 
the  whole  length  of  the  room.  It  was  nearly 
covered  with  refreshments  for  the  travellers. 
There  was  a  row  of  cups  and  plates  along  on  the 
outer  edge  of  it,  and  behind  these  there  were 
pitchers  of  coffee  and  milk,  sugar-bowls,  plates  of 
pie,  cake,  ham,  chicken,  apples  and  oranges, — 
every  variety  of  food,  in  short,  suitable  for  a 
luncheon  for  travellers.  Behind  the  table  were 
several  waiters,  in  attendance,  to  help  the  com- 
pany to  what  they  wanted,  and  to  take  the  pr  y. 

"  Come,  cousin  Forester,"  said  Marco,  "  <et  us 
have  some  luncheon  too!" 

"No,"  said  Forester,  "not  now.  This  will  be 
only  a  hurried  luncheon.  We  will  wait  until  the 
train  has  gone,  and  then  have  a  regular  and  quiet 
dinner." 

The  hall  was  full  of  bustle  and  confusion. 
Some  were  taking  refreshments  themselves ; 
others  were  hurrying  to  and  fro,  to  carry  cups  Of 
coffee  and  little  plates  of  cake  to  the  cars,  to 
ladies  who  were  under  their  charge,  and  who  had 
preferred  not  to  leave  their  seats ;  others  were 
laying  down  bank  bills  or  pieces  of  money,  in 
9 


98  MARCO    PATTL    ON    THE    ERIE    CANAL. 

payment  for  what  they  had  taken,  and  receiving 
small  coin  in  exchange. 

Forester  and  Marco,  having  nothing  to  do  with 
this  scene,  went  out  through  a  door  at  one  end  of 
the  hall,  which  led  into  a  small  parlor  adjoining. 
Here  there  was  a  table,  with  newspapers  and 
prints  upon  it,  and  also  some  chairs  and  a  sofa. 
Forester  put  his  carpet-bag  and  umbrella  down  at 
the  end  of  the  sofa,  in  a  corner  of  the  room,  and 
then  look  his  seat,  with  Marco  by  his  side. 

In  a  few  minutes  the  locomotive  bell  began  to 
toll,  which  was  a  signal  for  all  the  passengers  to 
get  into  the  cars  again.  The  sound  of  this  bell 
greatly  increased  ihe  hubbub  and  confusion; 
men  wTere  running  too  and  fro,  in  a  greater  hurry 
than  before,  and  crowding  into  the  doors  of  the 
cars.  At  length  the  doors  were  shut  by  the  con- 
ductor, and  the  signal  given.  The  whole  train 
then  started  and  began,  slowly  to  move  awTay, 
leaving  Marco  and  Forester  in  their  little  parlor 
alone.  They  were  surprised  to  observe  what  a 
sudden  change  wTas  made  in  the  scene  by  the 
departure  of  the  cars.  A  moment  before  all  had 
been  noise,  tumult  and  confusion.  But  when  the 
sound  of  the  engine  died  away  in  the  distance, 
they  found  themselves  left  in  a  scene  of  almost 
entire  silence  and  solitude. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
PERPLEXITY. 

After  Marco  Paul' and  Forester  had  had  their 
dinner  they  went  forth  with  feelings  of  eager 
interest  in  quest  of  the  aqueduct. 

"  How  do  you  know  where  to  find  it  ?"  asked 
Marco. 

"  There  cannot  be  much  difficulty  in  finding  it, 
I  think,"  said  Forester  ;  "for  such  a  work  must  be 
a  very  conspicuous  object  in  such  a  village  as 
this." 

They  were  on  the  north  side  of  the  river. 
The  village,  however,  extended  to  both  sides.  As 
they  walked  along  they  could  see  the  -river  tum- 
bling over  the  rocks,  wherever  a  street  or  an 
interval  between  blocks  of  buildings  opened  a  view. 
After  following  the  line  of  the  railroad  a  short 
distance,  they  turned  down  towards  the  river  by  a 
broad  street,  which  seemed  to  be  a  great  thorough- 
fare, and  which  Forester  therefore  thought  would 
probably  lead  to  a  bridge. 

He  was  right  in  this  conjecture.  The  street 
conducted  him  and  Marco  between  buildings, 
which  seemed  to  be  mills,  machine-shops  and 
foundries,  and  at  length  it  came  to  a  bridge  which 
led  over  a  canal. 


102     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

"  Here  is  the  canal,"  said  Marco. 

"  Not  the  Erie  canal,"  said  Forester. 

"  Why  not  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"  Because,"  replied  Forester,  "  that  is  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river." 

"  This  is  a  canal,  at  any  rate,"  said  Marco. 

He  judged  that  it  was  a  canal  by  its  being  lined 
with  walls  of  stone  in  some  places,  and  by  the 
regularity  of  the  bank  in  other  places,  showing 
that  it  was  an  artificial  construction.  On  farther 
examination  they  found  that  it  was  parallel  to  the 
river  and  on  a  much  higher  level,  and  they 
observed  that  there  was  a  current  in  the  water. 

"  Perhaps,"  said  Forester,  "  this  may  be  the 
water  which  goes  in  over  the  aqueduct  and  feeds 
the  canal.     Let  us  go  on  and  see." 

So  they  walked  on.  Presently  there  came  into 
view  the  deep  and  rocky  bed  of  the  Mohawk 
itself,  with  what  Marco  at  first  thought  were  two 
bridges  leading  over  it.  The  two  bridges  were 
very  near  each  other,  side  by  side  ;  so  near  that* 
it  seemed  to  Marco  that  he  could  throw  a  stone 
from  one  to  the  other. 

In  a  moment,  however,  he  perceived  that  they 
were  not  both  bridges  ;  for  the  lower  one,  instead 
of  having  a  roadway  passing  over  upon  it,  had 
only  the  water  of  a  canal.  There  was  a  kind  of 
a  narrow  walk  on  each  side,  but  nothing  but  water 
in  the  middle. 

"  That  must  be  the  aqueduct,"  said  Forester. 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco ;  "  let  us  go  and  see  it." 


PERPLEXITY.  103 

So  they  left  the  street,  and  went  across  a  vacant 
piece  of  land  between  two  piles  of  boards,  until 
they  came  to  the  bank  of  the  canal.  They  found 
now  that  the  canal  which  they  had  observed 
before  they  came  in  sight  of  the  aqueduct,  turned 
its  course  as  soon  as  it  passed  under  the  bridge 
where  they  had  crossed  it,  and  expanded  into  a 
broad  basin,  and  from  one  side  of  this  basin  there 
was  a  sort  of  branch  which  led  directly  to  the 
aqueduct,  and  so  across  the  river. 

"  Now,"  said  Forester,  "  we  will  go  on  to  the 
aqueduct,  and  walk  along  one  of  the  side-walks, 
and  then  we  shall  see  the  water  pouring  over  the 
aqueduct,  across  the  river,  into  the  Erie  canal.' 

Marco  found,  in  this  case,  an  illustration  of  the 
truth  of  what  Forester  had  told  him  of  the  value 
of  some  preliminary  knowledge,  to  give  interest 
and  zest  to  travelling  and  observation.  He  was 
very  much  interested  in  going  on  with  Forester  to 
see  the  aqueduct.  Even  so  slight  a  circumstance 
as  the  expected  flow  of  the  water  across  the  river 
from  north  to  south,  instead  of  coming  in  the 
opposite  direction,  interested  him  strongly,  on 
account  of  his  having  previously  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  facts  and  principles  on  which 
the  determination  of  the  current,  as  he  supposed, 
depended. 

There  was  a  canahboat  lying  in  the  aqueduct 
itself.  It  was  a  coarse-looking  boat,  in  the  form 
of  a  scow,  and  it  was  held  in  its  place  by  a  cable. 
The  cable  was  fastened  by  one  end  to  the  bow  of 


104     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

the  boat,  and  by  the  other  to  a  post  set  in  the 
bank.  There  was  a  little  cabin  built  in  the  stern 
of  the  boat,  and  a  young  girl  was  sitting  at  the 
window  of  it. 

*  Where  are  you  going  in  this  boat  ? "  said 
Marco  to  the  girl. 

"  To  Rochester,"  said  the  girl. 

"  When  are  you  going  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  I  don't  know,  sir,"  said  the  girl. 

Just  then  Marco,  who  was  standing  while  he 
said  this  on  the  stone  side-walk,  just  at  the 
beginning  of  the  aqueduct,  looked  down  between 
the  boat  and  the  wall,  and  to  his  great  surprise  he 
observed  that  the  water,  instead  of  flowing  on 
towards  the  Erie  canal,  which  was  on  the  other 
side  of  the  river,  was  in  reality  flowing  away 
from  it.  It  was  coming  towards  the  side  of  the 
river  where  they  then  were.  He  could  see  the 
direction  of  the  current  very  plainly  by  the  rip- 
ples between  the  side  of  the  boat  and  the  edge  of 
the  wall. 

"  Why,  Forester  !  "  said  Marco,  "  the  water  is 
running  the  wrong  way." 

Forester  looked  down  at  the  ripples  which 
Marco  pointed  out  to  him,  in  silence. 

"Is  not  the  canal  over  that  way?"  continued 
Marco,  pointing  over  the  river. 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester,  "  I  suppose  so." 

"  Then  the  water  is  all  running  away  from  it. 
The  aqueduct  is  emptying  the  canal  as  fast  as  it 
can,  and  they  call  it  a  feeder." 


PERPLEXITY.  105 

Forester  made  no  reply,  but  looked  first  into  the 
aqueduct,  then  over  towards  the  canal,  and  then 
back  to  the  basin  on  the  other  side.  He  did  not 
know  what  to  make  of  the  case. 

"  Little  girl,"  said  Marco,  "  what  makes  the 
water  in  this  aqueduct  run  the  wrong  way?  " 

"  Sir  ? "  said  the  girl. 

"  Is  not  this  a  feeder  ? "  said  Marco. 

"  I  don't  know,  sir,"  said  the  girl. 

"  Hush,  Marco,"  said  Forester ;  and  so  saying, 
he  drew  him  along  towards  the  middle  of  the 
aqueduct.  "  Don't  trouble  that  poor  girl  with 
your  questions.  It  is  not  probable  that  she  knows 
anything  about  it." 

"  Why,  cousin  Forester,"  said  Marco,  "  she  has 
been  sailing  over  it  all  her  life, — it's  likely. 
I  expect  she  lives  on  the  canal." 

They  walked  along  the  side-walk.  It  was 
formed  of  large  square  stones,  beautifully  hewn, 
and  there  was  a  strong  iron  railing  on  the  outer 
side  of  this  sidewalk,  towards  the  river,  so  as  to 
keep  the  passengers  from  falling  off.  There  was, 
however,  no  railing  on  the  inner  side,  that  is,  the 
side  next  the  water.  But  this  was  not  necessary, 
as  the  water  was  nearly  on  a  level  with  the  side- 
walk itself.  But  it  was  very  far  down  from  the 
aqueduct  to  the  river  below. 

Marco  stopped  to  lean  upon  the  iron  railing  and 
look  down.  He  could  see  the  water  of  the  river, 
tumbling  along  in  a  narrow  rocky  channel,  under 
the  arches  of  the  aqueduct. 


106     MARCO  PAUL  ON  TEE  ERIE  CANAL. 

"  I  should  like  to  be  down  upon  those  rocks 
with  a  good  fishing-line,"  said  Marco. 

Forester  paid  no  attention  to  what  Marco  was 
saying.  He  was  looking  at  the  bridge,  which  was 
full  in  their  view  a  little  way  up  the  stream.  The 
bridge  was  supported  by  two  or  three  arches,  and 
was  built  of  stone,  in  a  very  substantial  manner. 

"  Let  us  go  around  and  get  on  the  bridge,"  said 
Marco ;  "  and  then  we  can  see  the  aqueduct 
better." 

"  Very  well,"  said  Forester. 

"  O  see,  what  a  funny  house ! "  said  Marco, 
pointing  before  them. 

Forester  looked  in  the  direction  which  Marco 
indicated,  and  he  saw  a  house,  which  was  painted 
red  and  white,  in  small  alternate  squares,  like  a 
chequvfr-board.  It  was  but  a  short  distance 
beyond  the  aqueduct,  and  was  on  the  corner 
between  the  canal  which  came  in  over  the  aque- 
duct, and  the  great  Erie  canal  beyond.  When 
they  came  to  this  corner  they  found  the  Erie 
canal  before  them,  extending  up  and  down,  par- 
allel to  the  river,  as  far  as  they  could  see.  There 
was  a  lock  very  near,  with  a  boat  going  through 
it.  Forester  and  Marco  stopped  to  see  the  boat 
locked  through. 

Forester  looked  around  a  little  to  find  somebody 
whom  he  might  ask  for  an  explanation  of  the 
difficulty  in  regard  to  the  current  of  water  over 
the  aqueduct,  but  he  did  not  succeed.  The  man 
who  had  charge   of  the  lock  looked  very  rough 


PERPLEXITY.  107 

and  iil-natured,  as  was  very  often  the  case,  in 
respect  to  workmen  along  the  canal.  Besides,  as 
he  was  apparently  only  a  common  laborer,  For- 
ester thought  it  very  probable  that  he  would  not 
know  anything  about  it. 

After  the  boat  had  been  locked  through,  For- 
ester and  Marco  walked  along  the  bank  of  the 
canal  until  they  came  opposite  to  the  bridge 
which  they  had  seen  just  above  the  aqueduct. 
They  walked  over  upon  the  bridge,  and  took  a 
view  of  the  aqueduct  from  it. 

"  I  confess  I  don't  see  how  it  happens  that  the 
water  is  flowing  out  over  the  aqueduct,"  said  For- 
ester. 

"  Nor  I,"  replied  Marco. 

"  That  must  he  the  aqueduct,  certainly,"  said 
Forester,  though  he  spoke  in  a -tone  of  doubt. 

"I'll  look  at  the  description  again,"  he  con- 
tinued ;  and  so  saying,  he  took  out  his  little  map, 
and  spread  it  open  upon  the  railing  of  the  bridge, 
so  that  he  and  Marco  could  see  it. 

He  found  a  brief  description  of  the  Erie  canal 
upon  a  corner  of  the  map.  There  were  several 
aqueducts  named  in  this  description,  and  among 
others  the  one  at  Little  Falls  was  particularly 
referred  to. 

"  I  will  read  the  description,"  said  Forester, 
"  and  you  may  see  whether  it  corresponds  to  this 
aqueduct." 

"  '  Length  two  hundred  and  fourteen  feet,'  "  said 
Forester,  reading  from  his  map. 


108     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

"Well"  said  Marco;  "but  I  don't  know 
whether  that  is  correct  or  not,  for  I  cannot  tell 
how  long  this  aqueduct  is." 

So  Forester  looked  up,  in  order  to  estimate  the 
length  of  the  aqueduct  before  him,  by  his  eye. 
He  said  he  thought  it  was  as  much  as  two 
hundred  and  fourteen  feet  long. 

"  •  Constructed  of  hewed  limestone,' "  contin- 
ued Forester. 

"  The  stones  are  hewed,"  said  Marco,  "  but  I 
don't  know  whether  they  are  limestone  or  not." 

"  I  presume  they  are  limestone,"  said  Forester, 
— "  '  supported  by  three  arches.'  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco,  "  that  is  right." 

" '  The  centre  arch,  of  seventy  feet  chord, 
spans  the  river,  the  water  of  the  river  principally 
nassing  under  it.' " 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco. 

"  '  With  a  swift  current,' "  continued  Forester. 

•'  Yes,"  said  Marco. 

"  :  Twenty  feet  deep  at  low  water,' "  continued 
Forester. 

"  I  can't  see  how  deep  it  is,"  said  Marco ;  "  but 
I  don't  believe  it  is  twenty  feet." 

"  '  And  on  each  side,' "  resumed  Forester, 
" '  an  arch  of  fifty  feet  chord.'  " 

"Yes,"  said  Marco;  "but  I  don't  see  what 
good  the  side  arches  do,  since  the  river  all  runs 
through  the  middle  arch." 

"  It  does  now,"  said  Forester,  "  while  the  river 
is  in  its  ordinary  bed ;  but  when  it  is  raised  by 


PERPLEXITY.  109 

the  rains,  or  the  melting  of  the  snows  in  spring, 
perhaps  it  requires  all  three  of  the  arches  to  carry 
the  water." 

"  '  These  arches,'  "  continued  Forester,  reading 
again  from  the  description  on  the  corner  of  his 
map,  '"rest  on  abutments  and  piers  of  solid 
limerock.' " 

"  What  are  abutments  and  piers  ? "  asked 
Marco. 

"  Abutments  are  the  foundations  built  up  at  the 
ends  of  a  bridge,  in  the  bank ;  and  piers  are 
those  built  in  the  middle,  in  the  stream.  When 
the  stream  is  narrow  it  is  only  necessary  to  have 
abutments, — one  in  each  bank, — and  then  the 
bridge  rests  upon  them,  without  any  support  in  the 
middle.  But  if  the  stream  is  so  wide  that  the 
bridge  must  have  some  support  in  the  middle,  they 
build  up  a  pier.  A  pier  stands  independently ; 
whereas  an  abutment  rests  against  the  bank  on 
one  side." 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco.  "  There  are  two  piers 
and  two  abutments  to  this  aqueduct." 

^  '  And  surmounted,'  "  said  Forester,  reading 
again  from  his  map,  "  '  by  coping'  " — 

"  Coping?  "  said  Marco,  in  an^inquiring  tone. 

"  That  means,"  replied  Forester,  "  the  course 
of  stone  laid  along  upon  the  top  of  the  aqueduct 
on  each  side,  to  make  the  side-walks." 

"  Is  a  coping  a  side-walk,  then  ?"  asked  Marco. 

"  O  no,"  replied  Forester,  "  a  coping  is  any 
course  of  stone  laid  on  the  top  of  a  wall  of 
10 


110     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

masonry,  to  cover  and  protect  it.  They  use  the 
coping  for  a  side-walk  here,- — that  is  all." 

By  thus  examining  the  work  before  them  par- 
ticularly in  connexion  with  the  description,  For- 
ester and  Marco  were  convinced  that  it  was 
without  doubt  the  aqueduct ;  but  the  direction  of 
the  current  of  water  through  it  remained  still  a 
mystery.  Forester  proposed  to  Marco  that  they 
should  go  up  the  river  a  little  way,  and  examine 
the  canals  and  cuts  which  were  connected  with  it 
and  with  the  Erie  canal,  and  see  if  they  could 
understand  what  course  the  water  was  intended  to 
take.  And  they  accordingly  did  so.  But  they 
soon  got  entirely  lost  and  confounded  in  a  perfect 
maze  of  locks,  canals,  cuts,  waste  ways,  sluices, 
feeders  and  basins.  Forester  became  greatly  per- 
plexed. Here  and  there  he  could  trace  the  intent 
and  design  of  some  detached  part  of  the  work, 
but  he  could  not  get  any  clear  or  connected  idea 
of  the  whole.  There  seemed  to  him  to  be  a  great 
many  more  channels  and  locks  than  were  necessary 
for  the  canal,  and  he  did  not  know  for  what  other 
purpose  they  could  be  intended.  As  for  MarCo, 
he  gave  up  at  once  all  idea  of  understanding  such 
a  complicated  system ;  and  he  walked  about  with 
Forester,  paying  but  little  attention  to  his  surmises 
and  speculations. 

The  reason  why  the  works  were  so  unintelli- 
gible to  Forester,  was  that  he  did  not  understand 
some  important  facts  in  relation  to  them.  Before 
the  Erie  canal  was  made,  there  had  been  a  short 


PERPLEXITY.  Ill 

canal  cut  around  these  falls,  with  locks  and  waste 
weirs  and  other  appurtenances ;  and  there  all 
remained,  some  full  and  some  empty.  Some 
parts  of  this  old  canal  had  been  converted  to  a 
useful  purpose  in  the  construction  of  the  Erie 
canal,  and  some  parts  had  been  abandoned. 
Then  the  Erie  canal  had  been  enlarged  at  this 
place,  recently,  and  a  new  feeder  provided ;  and 
there  were  mills  and  other  machinery  which 
required  a  supply  of  water  and  appropriate  chan- 
nels to  convey  it.  All  these  things  made  the 
hydraulic  works  in  the  village  of  Little  Falls 
very  complicated.  It  would  have  required  close 
study  for  a  week  for  Forester  and  Marco  to  have 
understood  them  perfectly. 

After  rambling  about  for  an  hour  or  two,  they 
returned  to  the  hotel.  Forester  had  enjoyed  the 
romantic  scenery  of  the  place,  and  had  been  much 
interested  in  what  he  had  been  able  to  understand 
of  the  construction  of  the  works,  and  the  opera- 
tion of  the  water.  Marco  had  been  somewhat 
interested  too,  though,  on  the  whole,  his  attention 
had  been  more  strongly  attracted  by  the  house 
painted  in  squares  like  a  chequer-board,  than  by 
the  cuts  and,  canals.  There  was  another  thing 
also  which  pleased  him  exceedingly.  It  was  the 
name  which  he  saw  painted  upon  the  stern  of  a 
sort  of  scow  which  was  floating  in  the  basin. 
The  name  was  Skipjack.  Marco  declared  that  if 
he  ever  had  another  boat  or  vessel,  of  any  sort  or 
size,  he  would  name  her  Skipjack. 


CHAPTER   IX. 


A   PROJECT. 


Forester  and  Marco  went  home,  to  the  hotel, 
to  tea.  They  took  their  seats  on  the  sofa  in  the 
little  parlor,  waiting  for  the  bell  to  ring. 

"  Are  there  any  canals  in  Vermont  ? "  asked 
Marco. 

"  Very  few,"  said  Forester ;  "  but  you  might 
make  one  when  you  go  there." 

"  I  make  one  !  "  exclaimed  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  said  Forester,  "  I  think  you  could  make 
a  small  one,  around  the  falls  in  our  little  brook." 

"  Have  you  got  a  brook  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"  Yes  ;  there  is  a  small  brook  on  the  grounds 
behind  my  father's  house,  and  there  are  a  great 
many  little  waterfalls  upon  it.  Now  when  there 
are  waterfalls  or  rapids  on  a  river,  so  that  boats  can- 
not pass  up  and  down,  it  is  very  common  to  make 
a  canal  around  the  place,  and  then  the  boats  can 
be  locked  up  and  down  through  the  canal." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  locking  them  up  and 
down  ?"  asked  Marco. 

"  Why,  passing  them  up  and  down  through  the 
locks." 

"  Why  need  they  have  any  locks  ? "  said  Marco 


A    PROJECT.  113 

"  They  might  dig  the  canal  deep,  and  so  let  the 
boats  sail  right  round  through  the  canal." 

"  No,"  said  Forester,  "  that  would  not  do  ;  for, 
as  the  water  above  the  falls  is  higher  than  it 
is  below,  if  a  canal  were  to  be  cut  around  them, 
and  no  locks  made  in  it,  the  water  would  run 
round  through  the  canal  as  swiftly  as  it  had  done 
in  the  natural  bed  of  the  river;  and  so  there 
would  be  nothing  gained.  They  have  to  put 
locks  in  the  canal,  so  as  to  let  the  boats  down 
gradually  from  the  higher  level  to  the  lower 
level." 

"  Then  why  do  they  dig  any  canal  at  all  ?  " 
said  Marco.  "Why  don't  they  build  the  locks 
right  in  the  river  ? " 

"  Because  that  would  stop  the  stream.  The 
locks  do  not  allow  the  water  to  pass  through, 
excepting  one  lock  full,  every  time  a  boat  passes ; 
they  want  to  leave  the  channel  of  the  river  open, 
therefore,  in  order  to  let  the  water  flow  on  regu- 
larly. So  they  make  a  canal  by  the  side  of  the 
river,  and  build  the  locks  in  that.  Such  canals 
are  very  short,  and  they  do  not  have  any  tow- 
path." 

4  Then  where  do  the  horses  walk,"  said  Marco, 
"  to  draw  the  boats  ?  " 

"  They  do  not  have  any  horses,"  replied  For- 
ester ;  "  horses  are  only  used  on  long  canals, 
where  they  have  canal-boats.  These  short  canals, 
around  falls  and  rapids  in  rivers,  are  only  for  the 
river-boats,  which  come  up  by  sails.  They  are 
10* 


114     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

generally  large  flat-bottomed  boats,  with  a  great 
square  sail.  The  wind  blows  them  up  the  river 
until  they  get  to  the  falls,  and  then  the  men  take 
down  the  sail  and  push  the  boat  into  the  lock  with 
poles.  Then  they  shut  the  lower  gates  of  the 
lock,  and  let  the  water  in  through  the  upper  gates. 
This  buoys  the  boat  up,  and  when  it  is  level  with 
the  water  above  the  upper  gates,  they  open  the 
way  out  of  the  lock  and  push  the  boat  along. 
Thus  they  lock  the  boat  through  the  canal. 
When  they  have  got  it  through  into  the  river 
above  the  rapids,  they  hoist  the  sail  again  and  sail 
away." 

"  Suppose  the  wind  is  not  fair  ? "  said  Marco. 

"  Then  they  must  wait  until  it  is  fair,"  replied 
Forester. 

"  I  think  it  would  be  better,"  said  Marco,  "  to 
have  a  tow-path  all  along  the  river,  and  so  take 
horses  to  draw  the  boat ;  then  they  would  not 
have  to  wait  for  a  fair  wind." 

"  They  cannot  have  a  tow-path  along  a  river, 
very  well,"  said  Forester. 

"  Why  not  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  Because,"  said  Forester,  "  in  the  freshets  the 
water  would  rise  and  overflow  the  tow-paths,  and 
so  the  horses  could  not  get  along." 

"  But  they  ought  to  make  the  tow-path  so  high," 
rejoined  Marco,  "  that  the  water  of  the  highest 
freshets  would  not  overflow  it." 

11  Then,"  replied  Forester,  "  when  the  river  was 
low,  the  water  would  be  so  far  below  the  tow- 
path  that  the  horses  could  not  draw  the  boat." 


A    PROJECT.  115 

"  I  did  n't  think  of  that,"  said  Marco. 

"  Some  rivers  rise  and  fall  much  more  than 
others,"  said  Forester ;  "  and  there  is  one  which 
scarcely  rises  at  all ;  so  they  can  have  a  tow-path 
on  the  shore  of  that." 

"  What  river  is  it  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"  The  Niagara  river,"  replied  Forester.  "  There 
are  very  peculiar  reasons  why  the  Niagara  river 
does  not  rise  much." 

"  Do  n't  it  rain  much  in  that  country  ?  "  asked 
Marco. 

"Yes,"  replied  Forester;  "but  then  the  Ni- 
agara river,  instead  of  coming  down  from  the 
mountains,  flows  out  of  a  great  lake." 

"  What  lake  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"  Lake  Erie,"  replied  Forester. 

"  The  same  lake  that  the  Erie  canal  comes  out 
of? "  said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Forester,  "  the  same." 

Then  Forester  took  out  the  pocket-map,  the 
same  which  he  had  spread  out  upon  the  railing 
of  the  bridge,  when  he  was  comparing  the  de- 
scription of  the  aqueduct  with  the  aqueduct  itself, 
and  he  showed  Marco  the  Niagara  river,  flowing 
north  from  Lake  Erie  to  Lake  Ontario.  It  would 
be  well  for  the  reader,  before  going  any  farther,  to 
take  a  map,  and  find  the  Niagara  river  upon  it 
too. 

"  What  a  short  river  !  "  said  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Forester  ;  "  it  is  short,  but  it  is 
large.     There   is  a  great  deal  of  water  flowing 


116     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

through  it.  And  you  see,  Marco,  that  it  comes 
out  of  this  great  lake, — lake  Erie.  Now  lake 
Erie  does  not  rise  and  fall  much." 

"  Why  not  ?  "  asked  Marco.' 

"  Because,  if  all  the  rivers  which  flow  into  it 
were  to  rise  very  high,  and  pour  a  great  deal  of 
water  into  the  lake,  the  freshets  would  only  last  a 
very  few  days,  and  in  that  time  they  would  only 
raise  the  surface  of  such  a  great  lake  a  very  little. 
And  so  when  the  rivers  which  flow  into  the  lake 
get  very  low,  the  lake  does  not  subside  very  sud- 
denly, for  the  water  flows  off  slowly  from  such  a 
great  surface.  Thus  the  lake  keeps  always  pretty 
nearly  at  the  same  level. 

"  Then,  besides,"  continued  Forester,  "the  falls 
of  Niagara,  which  are  in  the  middle  of  Niagara 
river,  between  lake  Erie  and  lake  Ontario,  tend 
to  keep  the  water  in  the  river  very  nearly  at  the 
same  level ;  because,  when  the  lake  is  rising,  all 
the  superfluous  water  is  drained  off  very  rapidly 
over  the  falls.  Rivers  which  are  very  long,  and 
which  have  no  great  lakes  upon  them  for  the 
superabundant  water  to  spread  out  upon,  and  no 
high  water  falls,  to  drain  off  the  water  rapidly, 
are  the  ones  which  rise  and  fall  the  most.  The 
Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  rise  and  fall  very  much 
indeed." 

"  How  much  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  I  have  heard  of  their  rising  thirty  feet,  and  I 
don't  know  but  the)'-  do  a  great  deal  more," 
replied  Forester.     "  The  Niagara  river  scarcely 


A   PROJECT.  117 

rises  at  all.  And  I  believe  there  is  a  place  where 
the  Erie  canal  comes  out  to  the  river,  in  which 
they  have  made  a  tow-path  on  the  bank,  so  that 
they  draw  the  boats  along  upon  the  water  of  the 
river." 

"  How  do  you  know  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"  I  was  there  some  years  ago,  and  I  believe  I 
recollect  seeing  it.  But  I  did  not  take  particular 
notice  of  the  circumstance,  for  I  did  not  know 
then  that  there  was  such  a  difference  in  rivers,  in 
respect  to  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  water,  and  so  I 
was  not  particularly  interested  in  observing  this 
tow-path,  as  a  proof  that  the  Niagara  river 
always  continued  at  nearly  the  same  level.  I 
should  like  now,"  continued  Forester,  "  to  be  on 
the  banks  of  the  Ohio  a  short  time,  to  examine  the 
marks  of  high  and  low  water,  and  then  again  to 
do  the  same  at  Niagara  river,  so  as  to  observe  the 
difference." 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco,  "  I  should  like  to  do  that." 

"  But  now,"  continued  Forester,  "  as  to  your 
canal  in  Vermont.  I  think  you  might  dig  a  canal 
around  one  of  the  little  waterfalls  in  the  brook. 
You  could  slope  the  banks  properly,  like  a  real 
canal,  and  make  a  tow-path." 

"  But  what  should  I  do  for  a  lock  ?  "  said  Marco. 

"  I  could  make  the  lock  for  you,"  said  Forester. 

"  Could  you  ?  "  asked  Marco,  eagerly  ;  "how 
would  you  make  it  ?  " 

"  I  would  make  a  box,"  said  Forester,  "  without 
any  top  or  ends.     It  should  be  a  little  longer  and 


118     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

wider  than  you  would  wish  the  boat  to  be,  which 
you  were  going  to  lock  up  and  down  through  it.' 

"  How  large  a  boat  should  I  have  ? "  asked 
Marco. 

"  I  should  think,"  replied  Forester,  "  that  you 
might  have  your  boat  about  a  foot  long  and  six 
inches  wide." 

"  I  should  like  to  have  it  a  little  larger  than 
that,"  said  Marco. 

"  The  larger  your  boat  is  the  more  hard  work 
will  be  required  to  make  the  canal ;  for  the  canal 
must  be  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  the  boat. 
However,  we  could  determine  that,  after  looking 
at  the  ground.  When  the  box  for  the  lock  was 
done  I  should  have  to  make  gates,  one  at  each 
end  of  it." 

"  That  would  be  very  hard,"  said  Marco. 

"  No,"  said  Forester,  "  for  it  would  not  be 
necessary  for  me  to  have  the  gates  made  on  the 
same  plan  with  those  on  a  great  canal.  I  could 
have  the  gates  made  to  slide  up  and  down,  instead 
of  having  them  open  like  great  doors." 

"  Would  that  be  easier  ?"  asked  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Forester  ;  "  I  could  nail  cleats  in 
on  the  bottom  and  sides  of  the  lock,  for  the  gate 
to  rest  against.  There  must  be  a  set  of  cleats  at 
each  end.  Then  I  should  make  two  square  gates, 
just  large  enough  to  fit  in  at  the  ends  ;  and  when 
they  were  in  their  place  the  water  would  press 
them  against  the  cleats.  Then  I  would  have  a 
handle  to  each  of  the  gates  for  you  to  pull  them 


A   PROJECT.  119 

up  by,  whenever  you  wanted  to  lock  a  boat 
through. 

"  I  think  it  would  be  well,"  continued  Forester, 
"  for  you  to  make  your  canal  at  some  fall  or  rapid 
of  so  small  a  descent  that  one  lock  would  be 
sufficient  for  the  difference  of  level.  You  would 
have  to  be  very  particular,  however,  in  placing 
your  lock,  after  I  had  got  it  made  for  you." 

"  Why  should  I  have  to  be  very  particular  about' 
that?"  asked  Marco. 

"  Because  you  would  have  to  fix  it  in  its  place 
before  you  had  brought  the  water  along  in  the 
canal  to  it.  If  you  could  bring  the  water  along 
to  the  place  in  the  canal,  the  surface  of  the  water 
would  show  you  exactly  the  right  level  for  the 
lock.  But  as  you  could  not  bring  the  water  there 
you  would  have  to  measure  the  level  very  care- 
fully." 

"  Why  could  not  I  bring  the  water  along  first  ?  " 
asked  Marco. 

"  Because  it  would  flood  the  place  where  you 
were  going  to  put  your  lock,  and  keep  you  from 
working.  You  might  however,  dig  the  canaJ 
along  pretty  near  to  the  place,  and  let  the  water 
in  so  far,  and  thus  get  the  right  level.  But  it 
would  be  necessary  to  keep  the  place  where  you 
were  going  to  set  your  lock,  dry,  until  the  lock 
was  in  its  place,  and  the  earth  rammed  down 
hard  all  around  it." 

"  Have  you  got  some  tools  where  you  live  in 
Vermont,"  said  Marco,  "  to  make  the  lock  with?" 


120     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 


"  Yes,"  replied  Forester,  "  we  have  got  tools 
enough  for  such  a  work  as  that.  Though  I  think 
I  should  let  you  make  the  lock,  under  my  super- 
vision." 

"  Well,"  said  Marco,  "  I  like  the  plan  of  making 
a  canal  very  much." 

"  Yes,"  rejoined  Forester,  "  I  think  it  will  he 
very  good  amusement.  You  can  make  a  flat- 
bottomed  boat  and  put  a  sail  to  it.  You  can  also 
put  something  into  the  boat  to  represent  a  cargo 
of  merchandise  ;  and  then  if  the  wind  blows  up  the 
stream  you  can  carry  the  boat  down  below  the 
canal,  and  put  it  into  the  water,  and  let  the  wind 
carry  it  up  to  the  canal.  Then  you  can  take  down 
the  sail,  and  lock  the  boat  up  through  the  canal, 
and  when  it  has  come  out  into  the  brook  above  the 
rapids,  you  can  hoist  the  sail  again  and  let  the 
boat  finish  her  voyage." 

Marco's  countenance  expressed  great  satisfac- 
tion and  pleasure  at  this  proposal.  Forester  told 
him  also  that  the  plan  would  not  only  afford  him 
amusement,  but  it  would  be  of  great  advantage  to 
him. 

"  What  advantage  ?"  asked  Marco. 

"  First,  it  will  impress  very  strongly  upon  your 
mind  all  that  you  have  learned  of  the  Erie  canal. 
For  while  you  are  at  work  upon  your  little  canal, 
the  various  facts  which  you  have  learned,  and  the 
incidents  which  you  have  met  with,  will  be  con- 
tinually coming  to  your  mind. 

"  And  then,"  continued  Forester,  "  I  presume 


A   PROJECT.  121 

that  Ivory  will  help  you,  and  he  will  learn  some- 
thing." 

«'  Who  is  Ivory  ?"  asked  Marco. 

"  Ivory  is  a  boy,"  replied  Forester,  "  that  lives 
very  near  my  father's  house ;  and  he  will  come 
to  play  with  you  sometimes." 

■*  What  sort  of  a  house  does  your  father  live 
in  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"  O,  you  will  see,  when  we  get  to  Vermont," 
said  Forester.  "  I  had  rather  tell  you  about  Ivory 
now,  than  about  our  house." 

"  Well,"  said  Marco,  "  tell  me  about  him." 

"  Ivory,"  said  Forester,  "  is  a  very  sober  boy." 
But  here  Forester's  attempt  to  tell  Marco  some- 
thing about  Ivory  was  interrupted.  For  at  this 
point  of  the  conversation  they  both  heard  a  bell 
ringing  in  the  adjoining  hall;  and  a  moment 
afterwards  a  waiter  came  in  to  invite  them  up 
stairs  to  tea.  So  they  went  up  stairs,  Marco 
resolving  that  he  would  certainly  make  a  canal  as 
soon  as  he  got  to  Vermont,  and  a  flat-bottomed 
boat  to  go  through  it.  He  determined  also  that 
he  would  name  the  boat  Skipjack.  He  thought 
that  that  name  would  make  Ivory  laugh,  even  if 
he  was  a  sober  boy. 


CHAPTER  X. 
THE    STEERSMAN. 

After  tea  Marco  and  Forester  took  a  walk 
again  to  see  the  canal.  They  passed  across  the 
river  on  the  aqueduct,  and  came  out  to  the  canal 
at  the  chequered  house  again.  They  then  fol- 
lowed the  canal  up,  going  from  lock  to  lock,  as  it 
gradually  ascended  along  the  bank  of  the  river. 

They  stood  upon  the  bank  at  one  of  the  locks, 
seeing  a  boat  go  through.  It  was  about  half  past 
six  o'clock,  and  a  calm  and  pleasant  evening. 
The  boat  was  not  a  packet,  but  it  had  several 
passengers  on  board.  There  was  a  woman  sitting 
upon  the  deck,  forward,  with  a  little  child  by  her 
side.  The  woman  was  knitting.  The  child  was 
playing  with  a  little  basket. 

"  Cousin  Forester,"  said  Marco,  "  let  us  get 
aboard  of  that  boat  and  go  along  the  canal  a  little 
way." 

"  Then  how  shall  we  get  back  ? "  said  Forester. 

"  Why,  we  can  find  some  other  boat  coming 
back,"  replied  Marco.  "  The  boats  are  going  and 
coming  all  the  time." 

The  boat  was  then  in  the  lock,  and  was  rising 
very  rapidly,  as  the  water  boiled  up  under  it  from 


THE   STEERSMAN.  123 

the  passages  which  they  had  opened  through  the 
bottom  of  the  upper  gates.  Marco  was  in  great 
haste  to  have  Forester  decide  in  favor  of  going,  so 
that  he  might  jump  on  the  boat  and  be  bucyed  up 
with  it.  So  Forester  went  to  the  edge  of  the 
lock  with  him,  and  they  both  stepped  on  together. 

When  the  lock  was  full  the  upper  gates  were 
opened  and  the  boat  sailed  along.  Forester  and 
Marco  sat  down  near  the  woman  and  attempted  to 
talk  with  her,  but  they  found  that  she  could  not 
speak  English.  She  was  a  German  woman. 
The  child  was  just  learning  to  talk,  and  Marco 
was  very  much  amused  at  hearing  so  small  a  child 
speaking  a  foreign  tongue.  Presently,  Forester 
took  out  a  piece  of  paper  from  his  pocket-book 
and  said  that  he  was  going  to  draw  a  view  of  the 
canal,  as  it  appeared  before  them  while  they  were 
sailing  along. 

Every  time  they  came  to  a  bridge  the  steersman, 
who  stood  in  the  stern  of  the  boat,  would  call  out 
"Bridge!"  in  a  sharp  tone,  and  then  all  who 
were  sitting  upon  the  deck  would  bow  their  heads 
to  pass  under,  as  has  already  been  explained. 
This  gave  Forester  so  much  inconvenience  in  his 
drawing  that  he  concluded  to  go  and  take  his  seat 
on  the  little  low  deck  at  the  bows  of  the  boat. 
There  was  a  small  deck  very  near  the  bows  in 
almost  all  the  boats,  made  so  in  order  to  furnish 
an  entrance  to  the  cabin  from  the  front  of  the 
boat.  Forester  took  his  place  here,  and  was  now 
no  longer  in  danger  of  the  bridges. 


124     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

While  he  was  sitting  there  Marco  wanted  to 
look  at  the  map,  in  order  to  see  from  the  profile 
whether  there  were  many  locks  in  that  part  of  the 
canal  where  they  were  sailing.  So  he  asked  For- 
ester for  it,  and  Forester  handed  it  up  to  him 
from  his  place  on  the  little  deck  below.  Forester 
charged  him  not  to  get  so  interested  in  looking  on 
his  map  as  to  forget  to  bow  his  head  when  the 
steersman  called  out  bridge.  So  Forester  went 
on  with  his  drawing. 

Marco  looked  at  the  map  for  a  short  time,  and 
then  folded  it  up.  The  little  German  child 
seemed  much  attracted  by  the  map,  and  especially 
by  the  red  covers,  which  were  brought  very  dis- 
tinctly to  view  when  Marco  folded  it  up.  Marco 
tried  again  to  talk  with  her,  but  she  could  not 
understand  what  he  said.  She  extended  her  hand 
towards  Marco,  and  said  something  to  him  in 
return,  but  he  could  not  understand  her  language 
better  than  she  could  his.  He  understood  her 
gesture  however,  and  he  handed  her  the  map 
book.  She  was  seated  all  the  time  upon  the  deck, 
a  little  way  from  her  mother. 

Marco's  attention  was  here  arrested  by  the  sight 
of  another  boat  coming  into  view  on  the  canal 
before  them.  It  was  advancing  to  meet  the  boat 
which  Marco  was  in. 

"  Look,  cousin  Forester,"  said  Marco ;  "  here 
comes  a  boat ;  you  must  make  it  in  your  draw- 
ing;— quick,  before  it  gets  away." 

A  moment  after  he  had  said  this,  the  boat  came 


ffpf^ 


THE    STEERSMAN.  127 

on  to  meet  them.  It  was  loaded  with  barrels. 
Marco  supposed  they  were  barrels  of  flour.  On 
the  side  of  this  boat  were  painted  the  words, 
New  York  and  Erie  Line.  Marco  then  remem- 
bered that  he  had  seen  the  words  Rochester 
Line  painted  upon  the  boat  which  he  was  in. 
He  had  noticed  it  at  the  time  that  he  first  saw  the 
boat,  when  it  was  rising  up  in  the  lock. 

Marco  rose  from  his  seat  and  walked  towards 
the  stern  of  the  boat,  following  the  other  boat  as  i% 
passed  them.  While  he  was  looking  at  it,  the 
steersman  called  out, 

"  Bridge  !  low  Bridge  ! " 

Marco  jumped  down  to  the  place  where  the 
steersman  was  standing,  which  was  a  low  part  of 
the  deck  near  the  stern ;  and  thus  he  glided  under 
the  bridge  in  safety. 

As  soon  as  he  came  out  from  under  the  bridge, 
he  saw,  at  a  short  distance  before  them,  a  man 
upon  the  tow-path,  with  a  cane  in  one  hand  and  a 
small  bundle  in  the  other.  He  appeared  to  be  an 
old  man.  He  stood  at  the  edge  of  the  tow-path 
near  the  water,  and  he  made  a  signal  to  the 
steersman  to  take  him  on  board.  The  boat  was 
at  this  time  in,  the  middle  of  the  canal,  and  if  she 
had  kept  on  in  the  same  course,  it  would  have 
been  impossible  for  the  man  to  have  got  on  board. 

"  That  man  wants  you  to  stop  for  him,  I 
expect,"  said  Marco. 

The  steersman  said  nothing,  but  he  pressed  the 
helm  ofT  to  the  farther  side  of  the  boat,  and  this 


128     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

caused  the  bows  of  the  boat  to  turn  in.  towards  the 
shore.  Thus  the  boat  glided  along  very  near  to 
the  bank  where  the  man  was  standing,  but  with- 
out at  all  diminishing  its  speed.  The  old  man 
stepped  on  board  at  the  stern,  and  then  the  boat 
soon  swept  on  out  into  the  middle  of  the  canal 
again.  The  old  man  ascended  to  the  deck, 
walked  on  towards  the  bows,  and  then  stepped 
down  and  took  his  seat  on  the  little  forward  deck 
with  Forester.  Forester  was  on  one  side  of  the 
door  leading  into  the  cabin,  and  he  on  the  other. 

"  Where  is  that  man  going  ? "  said  Marco  to  the 
steersman. 

44 1  expect  he  is  going  to  Herkimer,"  said  the 
6teersman. 

Here  there  was  a  pause.  Marco  wanted  to  talk 
with  the  steersman,  but  he  did  not  know  exactly 
what  to  say.  He  waited,  therefore,  hoping  that  the 
steersman  would  say  something  to  him.  But  the 
man  did  not  appear  much  inclined  to  converse. 
In  fact,  Marco  thought  that  he  was  rather  a  surly 
looking  fellow. 

44 1  wish  you'd  let  me  steer  the  boat  a  little," 
said  Marco. 

44  Poh, — you  can 't  steer,"  replied  he. 

44  But  I  want  you  to  teach  me,"  said  Marco. 

44  Teach  you  ! "  said  the  steersman,  in  a  tone  of 
contempt ; — and  just  at  that  instant  the  boat 
happening  to  come  to  a  turn  of  the  canal,  which 
rendered  it  necessary  for  him  to  crowd  the  helm 
hard  over   towards  the  side  where   Marco  was 


THE    STEERSMAN.  129 

standing,  he  added  in  a  very  rough  manner,  "  Get 
out  of  the  way  !" 

Marco  retreated  a  step  or  two  to  a  place  where 
he  could  not  he  in  the  way ;  and  there  he  stood 
and  looked  into  the  face  of  the  steersman  with  an 
expression  of  astonishment.  The  man  paid  no 
attention  to  him,  hut  looked  straight  ahead,  with  a 
countenance  stern  and  unmoved. 

"  "Were  you  ever  a  boy  yourself,  sir  ? "  said 
Marco. 

The  rigid  features  of  the  steersman's  iron 
visage  slowly  relaxed  into  a  sort  of  smile  at  this 
question,  and  he  replied,  after  a  moment's  pause, 

"  Yes, — I  was  ;  that 's  a  fact." 

"  And  when  you  wanted  to  learn,  did  they  tell 
you  to  get  out  of  the  way  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  the  steersman  ;  "  they  treated  me  a 
great  deal  worse  than  that.  But  what  do  you 
want  to  learn  to  steer  for  ?  You  '11  never  go  on  a 
canal." 

"  Very  likely  I  shall,"  said  Marco. 

"  "Why,  isn't  your  father  rich  ?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Marco,  "  he  is  rich  enough  now, 
but  I  expect  he  will  fail  one  of  these  days.  How- 
ever, if  I  should  go  on  the  canal,  I  should  rather 
drive  the  horses  than  steer." 

"  Then,"  said  the  steersman,  "  you  had  better 
go  and  get  Joe  to  teach  you  to  ride, — not  ask  me 
to  teach  you  to  steer." 

"  Is  the  driver's  name  Joe  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  steersman. 


130     MAKCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

"And  do  you  think  he'd  let  me  ride,"  said 
Marco,  "  if  I  should  go  and  ask  him  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  the  man,  "  I  think  he  would." 

"  Well,"  said  Marco  ;  "  only  you  must  steer  the 
boat  up  near  the  bank,  so  that  I  can  jump  out." 

"  Very  well,"  replied  the  man,  "  go  to  the  side, 
and  be  all  ready  to  jump." 

The  steersman  turned  the  boat  in  a  little,  so  as 
to  bring  it  up  pretty  near  to  the  bank,  but  he  was 
very  careful  not  to  get  it  so  near  as  that  Marco 
could  jump  across  to  the  land.  He  wanted  to 
make  him  jump  and  come  down  into  the  edge  of 
the  water.  So  when  he  got  it  as  near  as  it  was 
going,  and  Marco  stood  poising  himself  on  the 
edge  of  the  boat,  he  called  out  aloud, 

"  Jump  !  Jump  ! .'" 

In  a  moment  the  boat  was  rapidly  receding 
from  the  bank  again.  Marco  turned  round  and 
looked  at  the  steersman.  He  did  not  know 
whether  he  was  making  a  fool  of  him  or  not. 
The  man  laughed. 

"Why  did  not  you  jump?"  said  he.  "You 
might  have  been  on  the  horse  by  this  time,  and  so 
rode  to  the  station.  But  look  there,"  continued 
the  steersman,  pointing  down  into  the  canal  by 
the  side  of  the  boat,  "  there  goes  your  book." 

"It's  cousin  Forester's  map,"  said  Marco. 
"  Dear  me  !  it  has  fallen  into  the  water.  Stop  the 
boat !  stop  the  boat ! " 

No  efforts  were  made,  however,  to  stop  the  boat. 
It  glided  steadily  on  its  way,  and  soon  left  Ihe 


THE    STEERSMAN.  131 

square  red  spot,  which  the  covers  of  the  map  made 
upon  the  water,  far  astern.  Marco  ran  fofward 
to  tell  Forester  that  his  map  was  overboard. 

Marco  was  stopped,  however,  when  he  reached 
the  place  where  the  German  child  was  sitting,  by- 
observing  that  the  child  had  the  map  itself,  still  in 
her  hands.  She  had  torn  it  out  of  its  cover,  and 
had  only  thrown  the  cover  overboard.  She  was 
just  then  beginning  to  tear  the  map.  Her  mother 
happened  to  look  round  and  see  her  just  as  Marco 
came  up. 

The  mother  seemed  very  much  concerned,  and 
she  seized  the  child  and  took  the  map  away. 
In  doing  this  she  handled  the  poor  child  very 
roughly,  and  seemed  to  be  very  much  displeased 
"with  it.  At  this  moment,  Forester  looked  behind 
him  and  perceived  what  was  going  on.  He  came 
up  upon  the  deck  and  told  the  woman  it  was  of  no 
consequence ;  it  was  an  old  map,  he  said,  and  he 
did  not  care  about  it  at  all.  She  did  not  under- 
stand one  word  that  he  said,  but  she  went  on 
talking  herself  in  German  with  great  fluency, 
pointing  first  at  the  map  and  then  at  the  child ; 
and  then  she  advanced  to  the  child  and  took  hold 
of  her  shoulder  and  began  to  shake  her. 

Forester  shook  his  head,  and  made  signs  that 
she  must  not  punish  the  child.  He  pointed  to 
Marco  and  made  believe  strike  him,  and  then 
made  signs  of  giving  the  map  to  the  child.  He 
meant  that  Marco  was  to  blame  for  giving  the  map 
to  the  child,  and  not  the  child  for  tearing  it. 


132    MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

It  is  very  uncertain  whether  the  German  woman 
understood  Forester's  signs  or  not.  But  as  he 
could  see  very  plainly  from  her  countenance  and 
actions  that  she  was  very  much  concerned  at  the 
accident,  so  it  is  not  improbable  that  she  under- 
stood from  him  that  he  did  not  care  much  about 
it.  Pretty  soon  Forester  went  back  to  his  place, 
and  Marco  followed  him  to  see  his  drawing. 

The  old  man  was  sitting  there  too,  quietly  lean- 
ing upon  the  top  of  his  cane  ;  and  Marco  soon 
found  that  he  was  as  good-natured  and  talkative  as 
the  steersman  was  morose  and  sullen. 

"  Well,  Bob,"  said  the  old  man,  "  and  how  do 
you  get  along  on  the  canal  ?  " 

Marco  was  smoothing  out  the  remains  of  the 
map,  and  folding  it  up.  He  looked  up  from  his 
work  at  the  man  and  said, 

"  My  name  is  not  Bob,  sir." 

"  What  is  your  name  ?  "  asked  the  old  man. 

"  Marco,  sir,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Well,  Marco,  how  should  you  like  to  go 
driver  in  the  Rochester  line  ?  See  that  boy  out 
there  on  the  horse.  You  could  ride  like  him  all 
day  long." 

"  Perhaps  I  should  get  tired  of  riding  all  day 
long,"  said  Marco. 

"  Very  well,"  rejoined  the  old  man,  "  then  you 
could  jump  off  and  walk  alongside  the  team. 
You  would  have  to  do  that  often  in  the  cold 
mornings,  to  keep  warm." 

"  How  far  should  I  have  to  ride  in  a  day  ? " 
asked  Marco. 


THE    STEERSMAN.  133 

"  Why,  there  are  stations  all  alor>g  the  canal," 
said  the  man,  "  where  trie  horses  are  put  up. 
You  would  ride  from  one  station  to  another." 

"  And  then  how  long  should  I  rest?" 

"  You  would  rest  till  it  came  your  turn  to  go 
out  again ;  sometimes  an  hour,  and  sometimes  a 
day.     First  in,  first  out,  is  the  rule." 

Marco  could  not  understand  the  old  man's 
account  of  the  system  hy  which  the  boats  of  a 
line  are  towed  along  the  canal.  But  he  received 
trie  idea  that  the  driver's  life  was  a  very  irregular 
one  ;  and  he  saw  at  once  that  it  must  be  a  life  of 
great  exposure  and  fatigue. 

"  How  many  hands  does  it  require  to  manage  a 
line-boat  ?  "  asked  Forester. 

"  Why,  there  is  the  captain,  and  the  bowsman, 
and  the  steersman,  and  the  cook.  Though  the 
cook  is  generally  a  woman.  If  they  go  night 
and  day,  they  must  have  a  double  set." 

"  What  does  the  bowsman  do  ? "  asked  For- 
ester. 

"  Why,  he  takes  care  of  the  tow-rope,"  said 
the  man,  "  and  sees  to  securing  the  boat  in  the 
lock  when  she  is  run  in." 

"  Here  comes  another  boat,"  said  Marco. 

"Yes,"  said  Forester,  "and  it  is  getting  dark; 
so  I  think  Ave  had  better  go  back  on  her." 

So   Forester  gathered  up  and  put   away  his 

drawing  materials,  and  then  he  went  and  found 

the  captain  and  gave  him  a  little  change  to  pay 

for  the  passage  which  he  and  Marco  had  had  in 

12 


134     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

his  boat.  Then  they  bade  the  old  man  good-bye , 
and  they  also  nodded  to  the  German  woman  and 
her  child,  though  they  knew  it  would  do  no  good 
to  say  any  words  to  them.  By  this  time  the  two 
boats  were  opposite  to  each  other,  and  Forester 
and  Marco  stepped  across  to  the  one  which  was 
going  down  the  canal ;  and  in  the  course  of  half 
an  hour  they  wTere  landed  at  the  lock  opposite  to 
the  aqueduct,  at  the  village  of  Little  Falls. 

As  they  were  walking  along  towards  the  hotel, 
Marco  said  that  he  was  sorry  that  their  map  was 
torn  up  and  spoiled. 

"  That  is  no  great  calamity,"  said  Forester. 
"  Besides,  I  can  tell  you  a  way  by  which  you  can 
make  it  useful,  yet." 

"  How  ? "  asked  Marco. 

"  Why,  I  have  been  thinking,"  said  Forester, 
"  that  when  we  get  home  to  Vermont,  I  should  let 
you  take  for  one  of  your  first  exercises,  an  essay 
on  the  Erie  canal." 

5!  I  don't  know  how  to  write  essays,"  said 
Marco. 

"  So  I  supposed,"  replied  Forester,  "  and  there- 
fore I  was  going  to  let  you  learn.  I  thought  I 
would  make  you  a  small  book,  and  let  you  write 
in  it  all  that  you  can  remember  about  the  Erie 
canal.  And  you  can  have  two  maps  in  it  now; 
for  you  can  cut  out  of  this  torn  map  the  profile  of 
the  canal  which  is  in  one  corner,  and  also  that 
part  of  the  middle  of  the  map  which  contains  the 
course   of  the  canal.     These  you  can  paste   on 


THE    STEERSMAN.  135 

fresh  sheets  of  paper,  so  as  to  get  a  new  margin 
around  them,  and  then  make  a  new  border  with  a 
pen.  Then  I  will  show  you  a  way  to  paste  and 
fold  them  into  your  book,  and  so  you  will  have 
an  essay  on  the  Erie  canal,  illustrated  with  a  pro- 
file and  a  map." 

Marco  smiled  at  this  proposal,  and  said  that  he 
should  like  it  very  much. 

After  this  there  was  a  pause  for  a  few  minutes, 
until  they  had  nearly  reached  the  hotel.  Then 
Marco  broke  the  silence,  by  saying, . 

"  I  should  like  to  understand.  German,  cousin 
Forester." 

"  So  should  I,"  said  Forester,  "  and  I  intend  to 
learn  it." 

"  Do  you  think  I  could  learn  it  ?  "  asked  Marco. 

"  Certainly,"  said  Forester ;  "  you  are  better 
able  to  learn  German  than  that  little  child  is ;  and 
she  is  learning  it  very  fast." 


CHAPTER  XL 
THE    OUTLET    TO    THE    HUDSON. 

It  was  nearly  nine  o'clock  when  Forester  and 
Marco  reached  the  hotel.  They  remained  there 
till  half  past  ten,  waiting  for  the  night  train  which 
was  coming  down  from  Utica.  The  hotel  was 
quiet  and  solitary,  though  preparations  were  made 
to  receive  a  large  company  of  guests  when  the 
train  should  arrive.  The  long  table  in  the  hall 
was  covered  with  refreshments,  as  it  had  been  in 
the  morning ;  and  the  waiters  walked  to  and  fro 
in  expectation  of  the  arrival  of  the  company. 

At  length  the  sound  of  the  engine  was  heard, 
and  a  few  minutes  afterwards  the  great  train, 
borne  on  its  twenty  or  thirty  heavy  iron  wheels, 
came  rolling  on,  in  front  of  the  hotel.  The 
passengers  came  out  and  poured  into  the  house, 
renewing  the  scene  of  noise  and  confusion  which 
Forester  and  Marco  had  witnessed  in  the  morning. 

While  this  confusion  was  at  its  height,  our  two 
travellers  took  their  seats  in  one  of  the  cars. 
There  was  nobody  in  it.  It  was  marked  over  the 
door  "  Way  Passengers."  Marco  expected  thai 
somebody  would  come  to  get  in  before  the  train 
should  start;  but  no  one  appeared.      When  the 


THE  OUTLET  TO  THE  HUDSON.       137 

signal  bell  rang,  the  conductor  came  and  shut  the 
door,  and  the  train  began  to  move,  leaving  For- 
ester and  Marco  a  whole  car  to  themselves. 

There  were  two  seats  in  the  car,  a  front  and  a 
back  seat.  They  each  took  one  and  laid  them- 
selves down.  In  a  few  minutes  they  were  both 
asleep,  and  though  Forester  awoke,  at  intervals, 
when  the  train  stopped  at  the  various  villages  on 
the  way,  Marco  slept  soundly  through  the  whole, 
being  entirely  insensible  to  everything  that  passed, 
until  Forester  aroused  him  and  told  him  that  they 
had  arrived  at  Schenectady,  and  that  it  was 
morning. 

A  few  days  after  this,  our  travellers  came  to 
Tro) .  If  the  reader  will  look  upon  the  map,  he 
will  find  that  Troy  is  on  the  North  river,  a  few 
miles  above  Albany.  Troy,  as  well  as  Albany,  is 
a  considerable  city;  and  it  transacts  a  great  deal 
of  business  by  means  of  the  canal.  For  it  will 
be  seen,  by  looking  upon  the  map,  that  the  Mo- 
hawk river  empties  into  the  Hudson  but  a  short 
distance  above  Troy ;  and  as  the  Erie  canal 
follows  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk  down  to  the 
Hudson,  the  canal  itself  comes  out  to  the  banks 
of  the  Hudson  nearly  opposite  to  Troy. 

It  is  true  that  the  canal  does  not  terminate 
here.  By  looking  again  upon  the  map  the  reader 
will^see  that  when  the  canal  reaches  the  banks  of 
the  Hudson  it  turns  and  follows  the  river  down  to 
Albany,  where  it  finally  terminates  in  a  great 
basin  which  opens  upon  the  river. 
12* 


138    MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

There  is,  however,  a  communication  between 
the  canal  and  the  river  at  Troy.  So  that  the 
boats,  after  they  come  through  the  canal,  can  come 
out  into  the  river  at  Troy ;  or  they  can  continue 
in  the  canal  until  they  get  down  to  Albany,  and 
then  come  out  into  the  river,  through  the  great 
basin  there. 

Albany  is  upon  the  West  side  of  the  river, 
which  is  the  same  side  with  the  canal.  But  Troy 
is  upon  the  East  side.  Therefore,  if  a  canal-boat 
is  going  to  Albany,  it  is  not  obliged  to  cross  the 
river ;  but  if  it  is  to  stop  at  Troy,  it  comes  out  of 
the  canal  into  the  river  on  the  side  opposite  to 
Troy,  and  then  they  have  to  push  the  boat  across 
the  river  with  poles ;  for  there  cannot  well  be  a 
tow-path  made  over  a  river  so  that  horses  can  go 
across.  There  is  a  ferry,  however,  at  the  place 
where  the  boats  cross,  by  which  men  can  go  over 
at  any  time  ;  and  a  small  town  has  grown  up  on 
the  west  side  of  the  river  where  the  canal  comes 
down.     This  town  is  called  West  Troy. 

Marco  and  Forester  knew  something  of  this, 
when  they  stopped  at  the  hotel  in  Troy.  That  is, 
they  knew  that  the  canal  passed  along  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  Hudson  opposite  to  Troy,  and 
that  there  was  a  communication  there  between  the 
canal  and  the  river ;  but  they  did  not  know  pre- 
cisely where  this  communication  was,  or  which 
way  they  were  to  go  to  find  it. 

"  We  must  get  across  the  river,  at  any  rate,  for 
the   first  thing,"   said  Forester.     "  We  will   go 


THE  OUTLET  TO  THE  HUDSON.       139 

down  to  the  shore  somewhere,  and  look  up  and 
down  and  see  if  we  can  see  a  bridge." 

There  was  a  row  of  four-storied  brick  stores  on 
each  side  of  the  street  which  they  were  walking 
in,  which  prevented  their  seeing  the  river.  They, 
however,  soon  found  a  way  to  go  down  to  a  land- 
ing where  they  could  look  up  and  down  the 
stream.  There  wTas  no  bridge  to  be  seen  down 
the  river,  towards  Albany ;  but  they  saw  one 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  above  them, — very  long. 
It  was  covered  and  it  looked  very  beautifully,  as 
Marco  thought,  extending  in  a  perfectly  straight 
line  for  a  great  distance  over  the  water. 

Forester  and  Marco  then  left  the  landing  and 
wralked  up  the  river  in  the  direction  of  the  bridge. 
When  they  came  to  enter  it  they  were  astonished 
at  its  length.  It  was  divided  into  two  parts;  one 
half  was  for  the  railroad  track,  and  the  other  half 
for  common  carriages.  By  the  side  of  the  rail- 
road track  was  a  sidewalk  for  foot  passengers. 

When  they  had  reached  the  end  of  the  bridge, 
they  came  out  into  an  open  country,  with  several 
roads  before  them,  and  they  were  at  first  a  little 
uncertain  which  way  to  go.  They  observed, 
however,  the  appearance  of  a  town  in  a  certain 
direction  down  the  river,  and  they  concluded  to 
go  that  way.  They  had  not  proceeded  far  before 
they  found  themselves  on  the  bank  of  the  canal. 
But  it  looked  very  different  here  from  what  it  had 
done  beyond  Schenectady.  It  was  a  great  deal 
wider,  and  the  banks,  instead  of  being  covered 


140     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

with  grass  and  the  foliage  of  trees,  were  bare  and 
gravelly.  It  was  because  they  had  lately  been 
enlarging  the  canal  at  this  place,  to  make  more 
room  for  the  boats  to  pass  and  repass. 

Forester  and  Marco  walked  along  upon  the 
tow-path  until  they  came  to  the  town  of  West 
Troy.  Here  they  found  two  or  three  large  and 
handsome  bridges  leading  across  the  canal.  Here 
too  was  a  side  cut  leading  from  the  canal  into  the 
river. 

"  Now,"  said  Forester,  "  we  can  see  how  they 
get  the  boats  in  and  out  between  the  river  and  the 
canal." 

There  was  a  small  basin  just  below  a  bridge, 
on  the  side  of  the  canal  towards  the  river ;  and  a* 
the  end  of  this  basin  there  was  a  lock  which  led 
towards  the  river.  Below  this  lock  was  a  short 
canal,  which  led  to  another  lock,  and  this  second 
lock  opened  out  directly  upon  the  waters  of  the 
river.  There  was  a  boat  just  coming  into  the 
lower  lock. 

"  See,"  said  Forester,  "  there  is  a  boat  coming 
from  the  river  into  the  canal ;  let  us  go  and  see 
them  lock  it  up." 

So  Forester  and  Marco  followed  the  side  canal 
till  they  came  to  the  second  lock.  They  saw  the 
boat  come  up  through  this  lock,  and  thence  to  the 
second  lock,  where  it  was  raised  again.  At  this 
second  lock  it  was  raised  to  the  level  of  the  basin. 
The  men  then  opened  the  gates  and  fastened  the 
horses  to  the  boat.     The  driver  mounted  one  of 


THE  OUTLET  TO  THE  HUDSON.       141 

them  and  drove  under  the  bridge ;  and  thus  the 
boat  was  drawn  along  through  the  basin  into  the 
canal.  Thus  Marco  and  Forester  saw  a  canal- 
boat  locked  up  from  the  river  into  the  canal  at 
Troy. 

"  I  wonder  what  the  canal-boats  go  down  into 
the  river  for  ? "  asked  Marco. 

There  was  a  man  standing  near  the  gates  of 
the  lock  when  Marco  asked  this  question.  He 
seemed  to  have  the  charge  of  the  lock,  for  he  had 
opened  and  shut  the  gates  when  the  boat  went 
through.  When  he  overheard  what  Marco  said, 
he  replied, 

"  Some  of  them  go  over  to  Troy  to  unload,  and 
to  take  in  a  fresh  cargo  for  the  west ;  and  some 
of  them  go  down  the  river  to  New  York.  They 
are  towed  down  by  steam-boats." 

"  Ah  ! "  said  Forester,  "  I  did  not  know  that  the 
canal-boats  went  down  to  New  York.  I  thought 
that  all  the  merchandise  came  up  in  sloops." 

"  That  used  to  be  the  way,"  said  the  man,  "  but 
slooping  is  pretty  much  done  with.  They  take 
the  freight  up  and  down  by  canal-boats  and  by 
tow-boats." 

While  this  man  had  been  speaking,  Forester 
had  observed  a  lock  connected  with  the  basin, 
which  had  a  roof  over  it.  It  was  by  the  side  of 
the  lock  which  led  to  the  river.  There  was  also 
a  building  at  the  side  of  it  which  had  one  or  two 
public  offices  in  it.     Forester  observed,  also,  some 


142     MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

singular  machinery  over  this  lock,  under  the 
roof.     He  asked  the  man  what  it  was  for. 

"  That  is  the  weigh  lock,"  replied  the  man, 
"  where  they  weigh  all  the  boats." 

"  Weigh  them  ! "  asked  Marco ;  "  how  do  they 
weigh  them  ? " 

"  They  float  the  boat  into  the  lock,"  replied  the 
man,  "  and  then  they  shut  the  gates  behind  it,  and 
draw  off  the  water.  This  lets  the  boat  settle 
down  upon  a  frame,  where  it  rests  poised,  so  that 
they  can  weigh  it." 

So  the  man  very  civilly  conducted  Marco  and 
Forester  along  to  a  door  which  opened  into  a 
small  room  in  the  middle  of  the  building  that 
stood  by  the  side  of  the  lock  ;  and  there  they  saw 
a  large  quantity  of  weights.  They  saw  some 
apparatus  there  too  which  was  apparently  con- 
nected with  the  machinery  for  suspending  the 
boat. 

"  But  that  method  weighs  boat  and  cargo  all 
together,"  said  Forester.  "  How  do  they  know 
what  part  of  the  whole  weight  is  the  cargo  ?  " 

"  Oh,  the  weigh-master  has  the  weights  of  all 
the  boats  on  his  register.  They  first  weigh  the 
boats  when  they  are  empty,  and  put  the  weight 
down  upon  the  register,  which  is  kept  in  the 
office.  So  they  can  deduct  that,  whenever  the 
boat  and  cargo  are  weighed  together." 

"  I  should  like  to  see  them  weigh  a  boat,"  said 
Marco. 

"  So  should  I,"  said  Forester. 


THE  OUTLET  TO  THE  HUDSON.       143 

"  I  expect  there  will  be  one  along  pretty  soon," 
said  the  man  ;  "  they  are  coming  all  the  time." 

So  the  man  began  to  look  around  up  and  down 
the  canal ;  but  although  there  were  a  great  many 
boats  in  sight,  there  seemed  to  be  none  coming 
just  then  to  be  weighed. 

Forester  then  thanked  the  man  for  the  informa- 
tion which  he  had  given  them,  and  then  they  con- 
cluded to  go  up  upon  a  bridge  which  crossed  the 
canal  just  above  the  basin,  and  look  at  the  boats 
as  they  passed  along. 

This  bridge  had  a  covered  way  for  carriages  in 
the  centre,  and  two  sidewalks  outside  of  the 
covered  way.  The  roof  extended  over  the  side- 
walks, bat  there  was  no  wall  on  the  outer  side  of 
them ;  so  that,  standing  upon  one  of  these  side- 
walks, a  passenger  had  a  fine  view  of  the  canal. 
From  one  of  the  sidewalks  one  could  look  up  the 
canal,  and  from  the  other  down  the  canal,  towards 
Albany. 

There  were  a  great  many  boats  in  sight  from 
either  of  these  sidewalks.  Some  were  passing 
to  and  fro,  under  the  bridge.  Others  were  sta- 
tionary, fastened  to  posts  set  in  the  bank  of  the 
canal ;  for  the  canal  was  so  wide  that  there  was 
room  for  a  tier  of  boats  to  lie  along  the  side  of  it, 
and  yet  allow  room  for  the  other  boats  to  pass. 
There  was  one  boat  in  the  basin,  discharging  a 
cargo  of  flour.  There  were  several  long  rows  of 
barrels  lying  upon  the  bank,  and  they  were  hoist- 
ing out  more.     They  had  a  sort  of  mast  raised, 


144    MARCO  PAUL  ON  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 

with  ropes  to  brace  it,  and  there  was  a  tackle 
attached  to  the  top  of  it.  With  this  tackle  they 
hoisted  the  flour  out  of  the  hold  of  the  boat. 

Some  of  the  boats  had  women  and  children  on 
board.  One  had  a  horse  looking  out  of  a  window 
at  one  end  and  a  baby  at  the  other.  There  was  a 
little  room  at  each  end,  and  the  whole  middle  of 
the  boat  between  these  two  rooms  was  filled  with 
bundles  of  shingles.  Another  boat,  which  attracted 
Marco's  attention,  was  a  large  flat-bottomed  sort 
of  scow,  shaped  like  the  Skipjack.  There  were 
loose  planks,  black  and  decayed,  forming  a  floor  at 
the  bottom.  Marco  said  it  looked  like  a  barn 
afloat.  It  came  gliding  under  the  bridge,  and 
when  the  stern  came  into  view,  Marco  saw  that 
there  was  a  little  building  erected  in  it,  in  a  very 
coarse  manner.  The  building  looked  like  a  little 
shed.  There  was  a  door  in  the  end  of  this  little 
shanty,  and  as  the  boat  passed  farther  on,  Marco 
saw  a  woman  in  it  setting  the  table  for  tea. 

Marco  and  Forester  amused  themselves  for  half 
an  hour  observing  the  various  boats,  and  witness- 
ing the  little  incidents  which  were  constantly 
occurring.  Then  they  came  down  to  the  shore 
of  the  river,  where  they  found  a  boat,  and  a  man 
to  row  them  over  the  ferry.  The  river  was  full 
of  fleets  of  canal-boats  which  had  been  here  let 
out  into  the  Hudson. 


